{"id":908,"date":"2020-06-15T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T07:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/?p=908"},"modified":"2020-06-06T07:00:34","modified_gmt":"2020-06-06T07:00:34","slug":"chlorakas-in-fear-of-armed-gangs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/15\/chlorakas-in-fear-of-armed-gangs\/","title":{"rendered":"Chlorakas In Fear Of Armed Gangs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Bejay Browne.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent murder of a Syrian man in Chlorakas is one in a growing number of incidents that is spreading fear among residents and has forced the community leader to appeal for state help over groups of young, armed, single men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police patrols have increased, and the community board is also paying for three private security guards to monitor the area in the wake of the murder of 20-year-old Jamal Alhadzi who was killed in Chlorakas after being stabbed multiple times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total of 11 suspects, all Syrian, face murder charges over Alhadzi\u2019s death, apparently over matters of honour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are three or four \u2018hot spots\u2019 which are home to around 250 young Syrian men, some of them even alleged Isis members, Nikolas Liasides, Chlorakas\u2019 community leader, told the Paphos Post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor them, it is normal to carry weapons, including knives, and fight over seemingly trivial incidents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interior Minister Nicos Nouris confirmed his ministry had been informed of the community\u2019s fears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government is aware of the problem in Chlorakas and we are cooperating with the local authorities,\u201d Nouris said. He said he was not aware that some of the men were alleged Isis members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation has spread serious concerns in the wider community, among long-term Syrian residents who fear the newer arrivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese young men been arriving in Cyprus over the last 18 months or so. Chlorakas is not racist, I want to make that clear, and the Syrian community that was established in the area some years ago are lovely people, but these new people are something different,\u201d Liasides said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group have also targeted long-term female Syrian residents, including one who was recently accosted and berated on a Chlorakas street when visiting a friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They admonished her for driving a car, wearing make-up and being too \u2018modern\u2019. Despite this incident, she believes that the younger members would benefit from professional psychological support and help from the state as violence and a lack of respect are all they have experienced their entire lives. The older ones should just be deported, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have started to create major problems. There are many complaints from residents and there are not enough police in Paphos, there aren\u2019t enough officers, and they can\u2019t be everywhere at the same time,\u201d Liasides said, adding that this was why he has informed the interior ministry and appealed for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paphos police confirmed that extra officers patrol these areas in Chlorakas and that check points are regularly set up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey make trouble and drive dangerously. We find them in possession of knives and other weapons and they are arrested. They are mainly asylum seekers and those of protected status,\u201d a police spokesman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chlorakas\u2019 population is now around 7,000, 1,000 of them from Syria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bejay Browne. The recent murder of a Syrian man in Chlorakas is one in a growing number of incidents that is spreading fear among…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[191,76,224,158,9,533,534],"class_list":["post-908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-chlorakas","tag-local-news-in-paphos","tag-paphos-community","tag-paphos-newspaper","tag-paphos-post","tag-police","tag-security","entry","double"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/police-378255_1920.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":910,"href":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908\/revisions\/910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepaphospost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}