Σάββατο 7 Απριλίου 2012

Huge breakthrough for the Cyprus Problem?

For the past few months a group of people had set up camp in the Ledras/Lokmaci buffer zone. This became part of the worldwide Occupy Movement. More here and here.

Last night (6/4/12) Republic of Cyprus (RoC) riot police and Drug Law Enforcement Unit entered the UN Buffer Zone carrying weapons and raided the building the protesters were squatting in. Twenty-eight persons were taken to the police station and questioned. Most have been released today. According to the police spokesman a small quantity of cannabis, about 1 gram, was found.

The Cypriot Police Force once again ridiculed itself but we are used to that. Actually we have come to expect  some amount of hilariousness in every police press release.

The news here is the fact that RoC armed forces entered the UN Buffer Zone and carried out an operation. To my knowledge it was the first time since 1964 when the Green Line was drawn and begun to be manned by UN forces. That implies that the RoC police and its political superiors had prior communication and agreement about the operation with both the UN forces and the Turkish military occupying force. Since we have not heard any complaints from the Turkish-Cypriot administration or the Turkish military I believe we can safely assume that a communication and agreement between the sides did indeed take place.


So there we have it. We can work together. If only there were more kids with weird haircuts and way more joints.