Police slammed for doing too little too late over Sigma attack (update 2)

Dias employees on Monday said the police response to Sunday’s attacks on the media group’s offices was too little too late, but the force said their actions were governed by public outcry it has faced in other cases.

At around 8.30 on Sunday evening, a group broke into the media group’s building, terrorising staff, trashing offices and setting fire to cars in the parking lot.

Dias security chief Dimitris Skouros told reporters that the media group had received information at around 3pm about a possible attack on the premises and preparations were made to secure building entrances.

He said that around 8pm two policemen came to the security booth at the entrance of the building to check if it was secure before leaving.

“The crowd was already gathering at the roundabout and came towards us. Eventually they broke through the gates, which were secured with chains, and entered,” Skouros said.

The attackers threw a flare into the security booth, which was soon engulfed in flames while Skouros was still inside.

“They blocked the door, wouldn’t let me get out. I told them I was going to die in there, and they said ‘You and [Sigma CEO Chrysanthos] Tsouroulis should die, you are fascists’,” he told reporters.

Skouros escaped the booth by using a fire extinguisher to break the back door window.

The group came from the ranks of protesters who had earlier demonstrated outside the presidential palace against the SafePass.

“They had stones and bricks, all sorts of things, and they were wearing hoods,” Skouros said.

It later emerged that clashes had taken place outside the palace between protesters and police after the end of the demonstration, where some officers were injured.

Police chief Stelios Papatheodorou said the police had a plan to guard the protest, but they had no information the demonstrators would head for the Dias building afterwards.

However, speaking to CyBC on Monday, Sigma TV news chief Yiannis Kareklas refuted this, saying that there are recorded conversations from around 3pm where journalists informed police that they had received information about a potential attack.

“The response was quite tepid. Police just told us not to worry, not to think about it, that nothing’s going to happen,” he said. “They took no measures to protect the building”.

On Monday morning, Dias chairman Costas Hadjicostis confronted President Nicos Anastasiades during the latter’s visit to the building to review the damages.

“This is your last chance to prove you exist,” Hadjicostis said, demanding the president punish those involved.

Anastasiades shot back that whenever the police make a move to restore justice, they face attacks and criticism from the public.

In a tweet later on in the day, the president said he had been in touch with the two policemen injured on Sunday, who are doing well.

Επικοινώνησα σήμερα με τους δυο αστυνομικούς που τραυματίστηκαν σοβαρά στη διάρκεια των χθεσινών επεισοδίων. Με ικανοποίηση άκουσα για την πορεία της υγείας τους.
Στέλνω εκ νέου το μήνυμα, κανένα μέλος της @Cyprus_Police δεν είναι και δεν πρέπει να νιώθει ότι είναι απροστάτευτο.

— Nicos Anastasiades (@AnastasiadesCY) July 19, 2021

Members of the police force “are not, and should not, feel unprotected,” he said.

Unions also came to the police force’s defence, with the police faction of Isotita saying policemen have “the sword of Damocles hanging above their heads”.

“Our hands are tied,” a statement read.

Speaking on Sunday night police officials said that policemen are now reluctant to apply significant force lest they once again become subject to criminal investigation, as they did for their response to a rally against corruption and the government’s handling of the pandemic back in February.

At the time, police were criticised for excessive use of force, including the use of a water cannon which caused serious injuries to a protester.

“When faced with someone holding a Molotov cocktail, or a weapon, what is considered appropriate use of force?” Isotita police head Nicos Loizides asked CyBC on Monday.

“It is obvious that once again, the handling of the chiefs of police was insufficient,” policemen from trade union Asdyk said in their own statement, questioning the decisions that were made on Sunday.

“Our superiors sent 18 colleagues to the presidential palace, most of whom were new recruits and many of whom had no riot gear, to supervise 5,000 demonstrators”.

Instead of being recalled, officers working a morning shift received orders to continue until late night, clocking in over 17 hours of work, the statement said before posing a series of questions.

“They were then called to face 2,000 people outside the Dias building. What instructions did they receive from the crisis team? Where was [water cannon] Ajax, and why weren’t our colleagues allowed to use it? Why was there such a delay?”

The statement finally said that Sunday’s incidents are another heavy blow to the credibility of the Cyprus police, and of the Republic in general.

“Intolerance and impunity cannot be tolerated in democracies,” it said.