Akel on Monday lambasted governments past and present over the state of Cyprus’ police in the wake of President Nikos Christodoulides’ decision to sack the chief of police, his deputy, and to tell Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis to do the same to the acting director of prisons.

“For a whole decade, under the responsibility of [former President Nicos] Anastasiades and Disy, on the altar of democracy, the leadership pyramid, the police headquarters, and police departments were dismantled alongside any hope for operational efficiency and effectiveness,” Akel said.

“The responsibility on the shoulders of the last government is irrevocable, but after almost two years in power, the responsibility on the shoulders of Nikos Christodoulides’ government is also a given.”

Christodoulides, the party said, “sacked the police’s leadership and appointed two people of his own choice, who will be judged by their work.

“There is no grace period, but in the absence of political will, guidance and vision, the changes of personnel inside the police force will not bring about in and of themselves changes in the force’s image as people see it every day, with crimes occurring on streets and in neighbourhoods in broad daylight.”

It pointed out that violence inside and outside football stadiums is “intensifying”, that the number of escapes made from Cyprus’ prison are increasing, and the prison itself “remains a hotbed of crime, where impunity rules and corruption dwells.”

To this end, they said they were “concerned” by Hartsiotis’ “attitude” an apparent lack of understanding of how the public views the force.

“The fact that he claims that the bad image is ‘temporary’ is telling and is indicative of an attitude that everyone else is responsible for everything,” they said.

To this end, Akel called on both Christodoulides and Hartsiotis to “seriously address the chronic problems of justice, public order, security, human rights, and the rule of law”, because “this situation is very worrying”.

Later in the day, Disy issued a statement of their own, saying, “people’s sense of security has been brutally shaken” after convicted double murderer Doros Theofanous escaped from police custody on Thursday.

They added that it is people’s “non-negotiable right to feel safe and protected”, and called on the government and Harstiotis in particular to “assume their responsibilities” and “launch all the necessary measures to reform and modernise” the police.

Christodoulides sacked his police chief Stelios Papatheodorou and his deputy Demetris Demetriou on Sunday night, also giving instructions to Hartsiotis to dismiss acting director of prisons Charalambos Philippides.

The move followed Theofanous’escapefrom police custody. Theofanous had been on a scheduled trip to his family home and was under the watch of seven officers when he escaped.