Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 00-08-13

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>

Sunday, August 13, 2000

CONTENTS

[01] Smokers hit back over puffing in public

[02] British tourist, 17, says she was raped in Paphos pub

[03] Traffic police ‘extra-vigilant’ over holiday weekend

[04] Kyprianou and Kaklamanis urged to bury the hatchet

[05] Police free man linked to Egypt drugs case

[06] Man remanded after cannabis find

[07] Square is cool: net result of Ayia Napa on the web

[01] Smokers hit back over puffing in public

SMOKERS are hitting back at a current anti-smoking campaign, complaining that what they call their right to smoke in public places like clubs, restaurants and bars is being violated.

In response to the launch of a campaign by the Anti-smokers Society -- with government and police backing -- aimed at implementing the law against smoking in public places, the Smokers’ Association has written a letter of complaint to Justice Minister Nicos Koshis.

It is accusing the anti-smokers of putting extreme pressure on Koshis to comply with their demands, Politis newspaper reported yesterday.

The anti-smokers want smoking banned from areas like clubs, bars, restaurants and police stations.

"The law does not forbid smoking in places of entertainment, and police efforts to banish it constitute an abuse of power and a violation of the right to smoke," said the smokers’ announcement.

But according to the law, smoking is not allowed in discos and restaurants, a police press officer told the Sunday Mail yesterday.

Other areas supposed to be smoke-free, according to the police, are hospitals, cinemas, theatres, lifts, libraries, museums, factories and classrooms.

Smokers are also demanding that employers ensure they enjoy the right to smoke at work.

This ‘right’ is disputed by one Nicosia woman, Andri Olympiou, who quit her managerial position because she could not stand her colleagues smoking at work. She has now taken her case to the courts, claiming the right to work in a healthy environment.

Police launched a blitz on illegal smoking last month, handing out £20 spot fines to 20 people in Nicosia in the first two weeks of the campaign. In 1999, only three people were fined for smoking in public places.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 2000

Sunday, August 13, 2000

[02] British tourist, 17, says she was raped in Paphos pub

PAPHOS CID investigating the reported rape of a 17-year-old British tourist at one of the town’s pubs have arrested two men in connection with the case.

The young woman told police the incident happened shortly after midnight on Friday when she left her friends to go to the pub’s toilet. She said she was followed by a man who locked the doors and raped her.

The Briton later identified an 18-year-old Anarita resident as her alleged assailant, and he was arrested along with a 20-year-old Paphos resident, whom police believe may also have been involved.

State pathologist Eleni Antoniou examined the young woman and said she had recently had sexual intercourse and suffered internal injuries.

Paphos police said yesterday that both men were still in custody and had not yet been remanded, but that investigations were continuing.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail

Sunday, August 13, 2000

[03] Traffic police ‘extra-vigilant’ over holiday weekend

POLICE say they are being extra-vigilant over the long holiday weekend in an attempt to prevent road accidents at a time when one in every three cars registered on the island is expected to be on the move.

Nicosia has already been deserted by many of its inhabitants who have hit the road to the beaches of Protaras or Paphos or the cooler climes of the mountain villages.

"We are increasing the number of patrols, paying special attention to speed, dangerous overtaking, seat belts, crash helmets and drink-driving," police press officer Stelios Neophytou said yesterday.

He said the police have drafted a special plan linking traffic departments in all districts and aiming to prevent accidents.

Neophytou said that over the same period last year there were 80 accidents, none of which was fatal, and only 10 were classed as serious.

According to Deputy Police Director Andreas Papas, 100,000 cars are expected to be on the roads between now and Tuesday.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail

Sunday, August 13, 2000

[04] Kyprianou and Kaklamanis urged to bury the hatchet

POLITICAL comment on the on-going tiff between House President Spyros Kyprianou and his Greek counterpart Apostolos Kaklamanis continued yesterday with Akel leader Demetris Christofias urging the two to put their differences behind them.

Speaking to Antenna, Christofias yesterday said that he did not want to "throw oil onto the fire" of the argument, but that he believed it would be better for Kyprianou to understand it was not the best time for a Cypriot parliamentary president to address the Greek House of Representatives.

Kyprianou’s spat with the Greek House president began on Thursday when he called a news conference to say he was incensed at not receiving an official written response to a May 18 request to address the Greek Parliament on the Cyprus problem.

Kaklamanis, meanwhile, said that he had discussed Kyprianou’s request with him both over the phone and face-to-face.

Echoing a previous statement by President Glafcos Clerides, Christofias yesterday said that if Kyprianou had been speaking as House president, he would essentially have been expressing the opinion of all the political parties, and Kyprianou had not consulted the parliamentary parties before speaking out.

The Athens-Nicosia mudslinging continued on Friday night with Kaklamanis issuing a statement saying he was saddened that Kyprianou had added him to the list of people on whom he had made unprovoked personal attacks.

He also said that he had not answered Kyprianou’s request in a typical way because he preferred to explain the delicacy of the situation more personally.

Following Kaklamanis’ statement, Kyprianou issued another one of his own, saying that he was both surprised and saddened that Kaklamanis had decided to insult him publicly and dub him combative.

Greece’s ambassador to Cyprus, Kyriacos Rodousakis, has urged the two House presidents to patch up their differences and show a united front.

At the start of the spat Kyprianou said he believed his experience and ten years as President of the Republic gave him the right to have his say on the Cyprus problem.

He is an outspoken critic of Clerides’ policy on the Cyprus problem and no stranger to political confrontation.

He has often controversially faced off with the Greek government over what he sees as Athens failing to do its duty on the Cyprus problem.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail

Sunday, August 13, 2000

[05] Police free man linked to Egypt drugs case

ONE OF the men thought to have been connected with the drug-smuggling case that has led to a 19-year-old Cypriot girl being held in Port Said has been released from Cyprus police custody.

Police said 21-year-old Petros Koromias was released on Friday "pending the outcome of developments in Egypt".

Another suspect, Kyriacos Agapiou, 27, is still in police custody while Maria Antoniadou awaits a decision by the Egyptian attorney-general on whether she will stand trial in Egypt or be extradited for trial in Cyprus.

Her lawyer, Iacovos Avraamides, has met presidential undersecretary Pantelis Kouros and Attorney-general Alecos Markides. Cyprus has two conventions on crime with Egypt, and Markides has said he will carry out an in-depth study of the case.

Security officials in Port Said have said Antoiadou could face the death penalty if convicted and that she had been under surveillance for some time "on suspicion of smuggling illegal substances".

Antoniadou, from Pallouriotissa in Nicosia, has been accused of carrying three-and-a-half kilos of ‘bango’, a cheap low-grade variety of marijuana popular in the Middle East.

She was arrested on July 25 on her way back to the cruise ship she was travelling on. A subsequent search led to the police finding the drugs, which they said were concealed in a secret compartment in her suitcase.

Her parents have been allowed to see her once since her arrest.

Egypt follows a tough policy on drug-related crimes, with the maximum sentence for drug trafficking being execution.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail

Sunday, August 13, 2000

[06] Man remanded after cannabis find

Sophocles Sophocleous from Choletria in Paphos was arrested after a tip-off that drugs were being sold at a beachside disco. A subsequent search uncovered half a gram of what the police believe to be cannabis resin.

A search of the suspect’s car uncovered another 18 grams of the same substance wrapped in silver paper.

The police yesterday said that Sophocleous had admitted the drugs were his, saying that they had been for his own personal use only.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail

Sunday, August 13, 2000

[07] Square is cool: net result of Ayia Napa on the web

SINCE there are more than 2,810 website matches on the Internet for ‘Ayia Napa’, the Cyprus Mail decided to surf and see exactly what’s going down in the resort billed variously as a club mecca and a sex ghetto.

Roughly speaking, you can rank the sites in four categories: factual low down, out-dated romantic tripe, violent condemnation, and glorification of hedonism. We’ve reviewed the best of each...

First up, www.beachbeats.com offers club reviews and a programme of events until September 14. Its ‘Insider’s Guide’ is a little bit more light- hearted. It recommends clubbers take a whistle (ultimate boogie accessory) along with the condoms. Punters are advised to leave their mums at home so they can indulge in "safe sex, skinny dipping and snog a stranger". Apparently it’s unwise to "mouth off to bouncers, jailer, judge".

The www.ayianapa.com.cy Ayia Napa By Night Guide is also stuffed with streetwise advice. Although it’s easy for the underage to drink and get into clubs, they warn against cocktails, because sometimes they’re made with "local drinks" (?). The hot tip is to take taxis rather than ride scooters late at night, on the pretext that the roads "don’t have a lot of lights". The drink-driving message seems to have lost its way slightly here. Drugs are a clear no-no, the site warns, stressing that "Cyprus Police are very strict with drugs. NO USE OF DRUGS is allowed in Cyprus."

The Ayia Napa page at www.webtourist.ch is far-fetched, to say the least. To describe a resort as "trusting, and trustworthy by nature" is peculiar enough, but where the hell did they get "picturesque streets" from? Apparently the visitor will come face to face with "fishermen and farmers" as they are urged to "embrace Ayia Napa¼ a joyous celebration of life lived fully, simply and with passion". If this author has been to Ayia Napa, it cannot have been in the past 15 years.

The funniest sites are those that are angry about the excesses and the tackiness of it all. In his article ‘Ayia Napa: a lost paradise?’ at www.seekagreek.com, Nick Athanasiou couldn’t be more scathing if he tried.

"The chosen holiday destination for second-rate footballers¼ (Ayia Napa) is the only place in the world where the collective IQ level drops for three months a year". But it’s not just Brit bashing, for "the blame must surely fall on the Cypriot authorities who¼ would sell their souls to the devil if the price was right". Nick flounces to a close with a the rhetorical, "apart from Kiss FM and sex-hungry hedonists, who wants to see Cyprus become one big floating nightclub?"

For hedonism see the reports on www.essentialayianapa.com, which illustrate perfectly the dubious antics of Napa trippers, including the reported behaviour of one British football star. The young gentleman suddenly "found himself stripping off a blonde Nadine’s bikini [with his teeth] on a crowded beach. Boozy teammates stood by howling ‘Get your t*ts out!’ He later went on to simulating sex with the girl.

"A colleague who emerged from the sea starkers had to be escorted away by coast guards who ordered him to put his shorts back on. As further obscenities continued, families hurriedly packed up their belongings and left the beach in haste," the report finishes.

But www.essentialayianapa.com is without a doubt still the best of the lot. This one has everything from news and weather reports to reviews, programmes, competitions and online chat. There’s even a webcam of the square under the headline "Do you know where your girlfriend is?". But the site’s official line is above board, and the "get physical" message is a euphemism for sport, not sex.

The anti-drugs line is also writ large, with a "No Drugs, No Thugs warning to Brits" page. It warns surfers that barmen, chambermaids and club owners can be informers for the drugs squad, and includes a tough warning from Christakis Katsikides, commander of the island’s Drug Law Enforcement Unit.

The site’s parting shot sums the tone up: "Have a great time this summer," it says. "Be safe and keep an eye on the site."

© Copyright Cyprus Mail

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