The Pasydy civil servants union on Tuesday condemned an apparent assault on a department of fisheries official, calling such incidents unacceptable.

According to a statement by the union, the incident took place in Paphos a day earlier.

The civil servant – an inspector with the department – was initially subjected to verbal assault followed by physical assault. The perpetrator was a professional fisherman, the union said.

It was unclear what provoked the alleged incident.

Pasydy expressed its solidarity with the inspector “who was merely performing his duties under the law”.

The union said the incident constituted an attack not only against the civil servant in question, “but also against all personnel… it is an attack against law and order as well as democracy”.

It called on authorities to swiftly investigate the incident and mete out “exemplary punishment” to the perpetrator.