Opposition party Akel on Thursday demanded answers from the government on how it is handling the spate of incidents of violence and public nuisance taking place over the Easter weekend.

In a letter addressed to the justice minister, and copied to the police chief, Akel leader Stefanos Stefanou asked for “a briefing on the actions being taken to investigate behaviours manifesting hatred and targeting of individuals taking place on Holy Saturday, occasioned by the custom of the lambradjia”.

He was alluding to the lighting of lambradjies – the Greek word for Easter bonfires.

According to Stefanou, on the night of Holy Saturday “various extremist elements” placed photographs of politicians on the bonfires. This included a photo of Akel MEP Giorgos Georgiou, but also the flags of left-leaning organisations that had been “stolen”.

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The Akel boss also mentioned the placing of a sign reading ‘Lgbt’ on a bonfire – a picture of which was taken and circulated in the media. The picture was reportedly taken outside the church of Saint George Havouzas in Limassol.

“Unfortunately over the past few years there has been an intensification of phenomena of hateful and racist behaviours, as has happened now with the weaponisation of the lambradjies, but also previously with the racist pogroms in Chlorakas and Limassol,” the Akel statement/letter read.

“It is Akel’s conviction that such phenomena must not go unnoticed, and moreover, their protagonists should not be left unpunished.”

Akel said there is “ample visual evidence” which law enforcement could make use of to investigate the events of the past weekend.

Incidents over the Easter weekend included the throwing of rocks and firecrackers at the police by youths in the Larnaca suburb of Livadia in the early hours of Sunday morning, after similar incidents the day before in Paphos and Larnaca.

Members of the public had reportedly called the police complaining of “firecrackers, flares, and other objects” being thrown at passing vehicles by a group of youths on a roadside.

When police responded, rocks and firecrackers were also thrown at them.

Earlier, the police had said they intervened in tens of incidents related to illegal lambradjies and the throwing of firecrackers, with officers having been the target of firecrackers, rocks, and even Molotov cocktails in some reported incidents.

Meantime the mayor of South Nicosia-Idalion municipality stressed that the current legislation banning the lighting of fires in inhabited urban areas is insufficient to curb such aberrant behaviour.

Stavros Hadjiyiannis said municipalities lack the wherewithal to guarantee public safety.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency, the mayor said he had put in a request to the justice ministry to assign them two neighbourhood police officers to assist in policing.

The ministry turned down the request.

“They won’t even give us one neighbourhood police officer which we used to have in the Idalion municipality before the time of the coronavirus outbreak.”

He went on: “Now the municipality has double the population and more than double the size of area, and we’re asking for two officers but alas the answer was ‘no’.

“With the means at our disposal, how can we guarantee public safety?”