POLICE are failing to stop minors getting into nightclubs and drinking alcohol, the House Interior Committee charged yesterday, calling on the state to take the necessary measures to enforce the law.
The Committee convened yesterday to discuss the government’s responsibility to enforce regulations on nightclub opening hours and underage clubbing and drinking, an issue that has been on the front page of Politis newspaper for the last three days in a row.
People have to be aged 16 or over to get into a club and over 18 to be served alcohol, police said on Tuesday. Owners can be charged if any minors are found in their clubs.
Police officer Nicos Theodorides yesterday told the Committee that they received many complains about children being let into nightclubs and drinking alcohol, but insisted that police carried out “daily” checks to keep things under control.
“Some club owners have already been charged. The Court can fine an offender up to £500 or sentence him to two years in prison. One club owner was recently fined £80 for letting a 13- year-old girl into his nightspot,” he told deputies.
But the Committee said such a sentence was excessively lenient.
DIKO’s Marios Matsakis asked Theodorides to submit the case file to the House so deputies could review the Court’s decision.
Katerina Pantelidou of DISY complained that children as young as 13 were partying in nightclubs every night, some of them drinking heavily.
“There is simply not the adequate policing around nightclubs and doormen never ask for ID. The Police should make more arrests and the courts should impose heavy fines of, say, £1,000 to combat the problem,” she suggested.
Committee Chairman Nicos Katsourides of AKEL went further: “Nightspot owners who disobey the law should lose their licence.”
Katsourides said parents were no longer controlling their teenagers.
“I’m afraid that 90 per cent of parents are unable to control the children. Youngsters don’t even answer their parents when asked where they are going.
“Bear in mind that youngsters are invited to dodgy parties and have easy access to hashish and marijuana,” he warned.
Deputies also highlighted the problem of nightspots not shutting by 3am, as the law provides.
Ioannis Kallis, the Mayor of Engomi where much of Nicosia’s nightlife is concentrated, told the Committee that many discotheques did not close until 4 or 6am.
“The Police are unable to enforce the law because there are not enough policemen to perform the task. Once, I saw with my own eyes a policeman trying to shut a club, while rebellious youngsters were climbing and jumping on his car. The government should appoint more policemen to do this job because it is not always easy to cope with the masses,” he suggested.
“We have to start thinking about the rights of residents, who need some peace of mind,” he said.
Ayia Napa Mayor Barbara Pericleous said things were completely out of control in her tourist resort.
“Most clubs close at 5 or 7am,” she said.
Deputies concluded that the police could not be everywhere at all times but that the state should impose much heavier fines on offenders to address the problem.
The discussion came on the same day as the publication of a report that showed Cypriot children had the cleanest drink and drugs record in Europe.
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