A protest will take place in Limassol on Saturday, 13 April, concerning the death of a migrant worker from Bangladesh on Wednesday.
The protest will take place at 12:00, midday, opposite the main building of the Electrical Authority of Cyprus (AHK), next to the church of Agia Napa in Limassol.
In a statement calling for a protest circulating on social media, it is mentioned that “the fact that the migrants chose to risk their lives rather than be in the hands of the state shows us the treatment that migrants receive when they are in the hands of the state and how just the thought of being deported makes risking their lives a one-way street.”
“It is our duty to flood the streets, locals and migrants alike, to now demand the obvious, that they cannot play with our lives”, the statement continues.
“Saturday 12 noon we call for a commemorative meeting at the place where 19-year-old Anis was murdered, opposite the main building of the AHK, next to the church of Agia Napa in Limassol. This will be followed by a protest at the Limassol CID, the mechanism responsible for the murder of md Anisur Rahman মো: আনিছুর রহমান, and the daily humiliation and abuse of so many other migrant workers” the statement concludes.
Early on Wednesday, officers from the Alien and Immigration Service arrived at an apartment on the fifth floor of a building in Limassol, acting on a tip about undocumented migrants living there.
According to reports, the police raided the apartment to check for the occupants’ residence status. Two men, both foreign nationals, attempted to escape.
One man jumped from a bedroom window, resulting in him falling onto the balcony of another apartment, leading to his death.
The other man jumped from the apartment balcony and landed on the balcony of another apartment, leading to severe injuries. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital.
Ten people were also taken to the station.
AKEL has called upon the Justice Minister and the Police Chief to clarify several key issues surrounding the event, including adherence to legal protocols during the police search and whether force was exercised.
In response to reports that the police did not have a search warrant to carry out the raid, Lefteris Kyriakou, head of the Limassol Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said that a search warrant is not legally required, comparing immigration checks to population registration visits by officials.
An online petition has been launched, calling for an end to racial discrimination and unlawful actions against migrants in Cyprus.
