Justice Minister Costas Fytiris has proposed that delivery platform companies give riders a ‘red button’ to alert police immediately if they are attacked, telling reporters on Thursday that he believed most attacks were robberies rather than racially motivated.
Noting that police could not be everywhere, Fytiris said the ministry had put the idea to the companies that run the platforms.
“It needs some time to be implemented, if the companies agree, so that the rider can press this button and the police can respond as quickly as possible,” he said. “Police must act as quickly as possible, provided that victims also inform them promptly.”
He said that after meeting the companies, they had found that some riders were independent and carried a fair amount of cash.
“We found that there are also independent riders who carry quite a lot of money on them, and in most cases I believe it is robbery and not racist motives,” he said.
Asked whether drug trafficking could be behind the attacks, Fytiris said this was being investigated. He added that there had been so many arrests recently that “we don’t know where to put the detainees”.
“Arrests have been made, rings have been dismantled, others are being formed, whether by individuals or organised groups, but our job is to keep pursuing them. And to strike at the root of the evil,” he said.
Asked whether there was evidence that riders were involved in such rings, he said some riders could become tools, the ‘hands’ of a network.
“Our role is to pursue from the hands to the head,” he said.
Fytiris was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with staff from his ministry, the police, the prisons and the fire service.
(Information from Cyprus News Agency)
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