‘Shame on you Mr President’
By Bejay Brown
I was holding that banner and got told to take it down
SOME 300 demonstrators gathered at the new municipal park in Peyia yesterday to express their displeasure at the title deeds situation.
They demo went ahead as planned despite news that at the last minute President Demetris Christofias, who had been scheduled to inaugurate the park, cancelled his appearance because of a prior engagement.
“There will be another opportunity to see the President. We have been forced to take this action as he hasn’t responded to any of our communication,” said Dennis O’Hare, coordinator of the Cyprus Property Action Group (CPAG).
“I urge him to do something about this situation as we’re not going away,” he added.
Demonstrators held up banners protesting the title deeds debacle, but also taunting the President from staying away from what could have been an embarrassing standoff.
One man held up a banner reading: “Mr. President, you’ve got no balls, we’ve got no title deeds.” Police were seen taking down his details.
A couple of banners declaring “Shame on you, Mr. President” were taken down at the request of the police, as they were regarded as being disrespectful to the head of state. Otherwise the demo, which began at around 7pm passed without incident.
Trisha Sadey had this message for the President: “Please be an EU country and get this dire situation sorted out.
“It’s not just expats, it’s all across the board: Cypriots, Swedes, Germans, every nationality that has lived here and put money into this country,” she said.
Another woman, who did not wish to be named, said she had not been aware before she bought her property about the existence of title deeds. She was concerned about not owning her property, wondering how a bank can lend money on a property that already belongs to someone.
Motorists passing outside the park honked their horns in support of the demonstrators.
Campaigners say government action over IPT tax is inadequate and have written to the Christofias to demand a Presidential review into why buyers, who say have been defrauded by developers, have been refused police assistance.
CPAG claim that some developers have been falsely claiming that they have paid large amounts of Immovable Property Tax (IPT) to the Inland Revenue on behalf of buyers, but in reality only tiny amounts ended up in government coffers.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009
From Friday's LIN TV :-