As a row over living conditions at Pournara reception centre rumbled on, child commissioner Despo Michaelidou on Tuesday found herself under fire over remarks that people-smuggling rings had tentacles in the police.
Interior Minister Nicos Nouris took to Twitter denying he had ever said he had knowledge of such links, and police spokesman Christos Andreou said that no such complaints had ever been submitted, while police union Isotita (equality) demanded the commissioner either submit proof or withdraw the comment and apologise.
The angry response followed a House human rights committee meeting on living conditions at Pournara on Monday, the same day President Nicos Anastasiades visited the reception centre and then presided over a high-level meeting that decided on a series of steps to ease overcrowding of both the adult population and of unaccompanied minors there.
His visit came days after dozens of minors had left the centre and camped near a church in Nicosia to protest over living conditions.
According to the Cyprus News Agency, Michaelidou, who last week submitted a damning report about the plight of unaccompanied minors at Pournara, told the committee that rings involved in the smuggling of migrants were linked to economic interests. Tentacles extended to the police, and the interior minister was aware of this, she added.
Nouris rejected this as “completely untrue”. In a tweet, he said this followed what he described as commissioner’s unfounded remarks that children at Pournara were given only a piece of bread and a small bottle of water in the morning.
And speaking on state TV on Tuesday, he denied having such knowledge. He said that smuggling networks must be combatted and asked for the active support of political parties.
He said Cyprus, which has the highest number of asylum applications per capita in the EU, was struggling to cope. On Monday night alone, 99 irregular migrants crossed from the north, two of whom were unaccompanied minors. He said all had travelled from Turkey, and made their way across the buffer zone.
“This is a daily phenomenon that is of great concern to the ministry,” he said.
Police union Isotita also stepped in, saying any accusations of police corruption needed to be backed up. “If someone cannot back up or submit a written complaint, especially when it is a public figure speaking to MPs in the temple of democracy, they should not leave shadows over 5,000 police,” it said.
Police have served as a shield for migrants and residents of the area near Pournara for years, so that there can be security, and they help the children of Pournara survive with food and clothes as much as they can without advertising it, the statement added. “The last thing is for police to be blamed about what happens with the migrants,” it concluded.
Meanwhile continuing meetings with parliamentary parties on the migration issue, Nouris on Tuesday met Christos Christou and Linos Papanyiannis, president and MP respectively of far-right Elam, saying it was a matter of national concern that all parties needed to be briefed.
Nouris has already briefed Diko and will in the next few days be meeting officials from the other parliamentary parties Edek, Dipa, Akel, Disy and the Greens.
He said he had briefed Elam on the situation and the recent agreements between Cyprus and the EU to address the issue, as well the government’s efforts. These are focused on better monitoring of the buffer zone – from which 85 per cent of irregular migrants enter the republic and stepping up repatriations of those whose application for asylum has been rejected with the help of the EU’s Frontex and agency for asylum.
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