LIMASSOL: Hours before the masked men came, brandishing Cypriot flags and molotov cocktails, hushed whispers of the imminent rampage travelled down the Limassol seafront strip home to many migrant-owned businesses.
Egyptian restaurant owners rushed to bring their water pipes indoors, and a Vietnamese vendor quickly cleared their street displays of greens and sugar cane stalks.
But they couldn't hide the distinct cultural heritage each of them has proudly embraced as they have built their livelihoods on the Mediterranean island.
Egyptian restaurateur Mohammed el-Basaraty, 38, recalled, "I was standing with a neighbour and she told me to leave... 'because if they see you, a foreigner, they will beat you', she said".
He stowed away at the back of the restaurant as the men smashed the windows of the business he had built with his life savings.
"We began to hear the sound of glass breaking... After that I smelled the smell of smoke and fire."
The attack early this month came amid a surge in violence against migrants in Cyprus, which last year recorded the European Union's highest proportion of first-time asylum seekers relative to population.
Experts blame the increased mainstreaming of xenophobia in Cypriot politics and media, fuelled by the spread of disinformation and the mismanagement of the large number of people trying to reach Europe.
Just days earlier, locals near the western city of Paphos had launched a similar attack on migrants after years of friction with the hundreds of mostly Syrians living in a condemned apartment complex.
Men with crowbars and sticks could be seen in videos shared on social media, shouting "out, out" as they marched through the streets. Twenty-one people were arrested, including 12 Syrians.
Police had earlier raided the building to clear it of its residents after allegations of electricity theft spread on social media.
Despite that precedent, as well as a heavy police presence ahead of the Limassol protest, residents say little was done to intervene.
"They were more than 600 people," said Adel Hassan, 76, a local resident. "How many did the police arrest? Just 13?"
Police did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment, but police chief Stelios Papatheodorou acknowledged before parliament that the response was "slow".
Some observers have voiced suspicions that hidden under the black balaclavas were members of the extreme right-wing party Elam, a group initially formed out of Greece's now-outlawed neo-Nazi Golden Dawn.
Elam did not respond to AFP's request for comment, but the group has repeatedly denied involvement in the violence.
Their staunch anti-immigration stance has helped them gain followers, with leader Christos Christou winning six percent of the vote in February's presidential election.
But Giorgos Charalambous, a professor focused on European party politics and mobilisation at the University of Nicosia, said the violence could also be attributed to smaller far-right groups that accuse Elam of becoming too soft on immigration since achieving mainstream success.
Charalambous says overall "hate speech" has become normalised across the political spectrum, creating an atmosphere conducive to the attacks that he described as "pogroms".
"Individuals and politicians that spread fake news and racist rhetoric about immigration also come from more mainstream centre-right parties," he told AFP.
Cyprus has been at the frontlines of large-scale migrant arrivals in recent years, which have seen the government take harsher steps, including increased pushbacks, according to the Cyprus Refugee Council.
The UN refugee agency last month expressed concern after more than 100 Syrians were deported to Lebanon without adequate screening of their asylum applications.
Such steps, buffeted by the crackdown near Paphos, may have emboldened far-right activists to turn their long-standing grievances into action, observers said.
The violence has "never escalated to this, although I can't say that we haven't seen it coming," said Corina Drousitiou of the Cyprus Refugee Council.
She largely blamed the growing anti-migrant sentiment on inadequate measures by the authorities, particularly the previous government, also pointing to "the language used in official statements... which was quite evidently xenophobic".
Responding to a request for comment, the interior ministry spokesperson in the current government, which was formed in March, blamed the unrest on "accumulated problems that were exploited by anonymous accounts on social media platforms".
"In no case did the official side express any racist rhetoric," Elena Fysentzou told AFP.
For many foreigners on the island, the damage is already done.
"Things have changed. There isn't the sense of safety that we used to feel," Sayed Samir, the owner of Mr Habibi, one of the ransacked restaurants, told AFP.
It took Chu Thi Dao years of hard work to scrape together enough money to open her convenience store overlooking the Limassol waterfront.
"She wanted a better life for her children," her 17-year-old daughter, Flora, told AFP.
A video of the 35-year-old Vietnamese woman crying at her shop after the attack quickly went viral across the island, drawing solidarity and support from the community and government.
Like the Vietnamese shop, the majority of the businesses that were attacked are owned by people who had fled either unrest or dire economic conditions to settle in Cyprus years ago.
Towards the end of the conversation, Flora's eyes start to glaze over with tears. "I want to stay here and live with my mom and family," the teenager said, struggling with the notion that this dream may now be shattered.
Cyprus migrants face wave of attacks as hostility brews
https://arab.news/2wjrw
Cyprus migrants face wave of attacks as hostility brews
- Egyptian restaurant owners rushed to bring their water pipes indoors
- A Vietnamese vendor quickly cleared their street displays of greens and sugar cane stalks
Israeli army takes journalists into a tunnel in a Gaza city it seized and largely flattened
- Israel and Hamas are on the cusp of finishing the first phase of the truce, which mandated the return of all hostages, living and dead, in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel
- Hamas has said communication with its remaining units in Rafah has been cut off for months and that it was not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas
RAFAH, Gaza Strip: One by one, the soldiers squeezed through a narrow entrance to a tunnel in southern Gaza. Inside a dark hallway, some bowed their heads to avoid hitting the low ceiling, while watching their step as they walked over or around jagged concrete, crushed plastic bottles and tattered mattresses.
On Monday, Israel’s military took journalists into Rafah — the city at Gaza’s southernmost point that troops seized last year and largely flattened — as the 2-month-old Israel-Hamas ceasefire reaches a critical point. Israel has banned international journalists from entering Gaza since the war began more than two years ago, except for rare, brief visits supervised by the military, such as this one.
Soldiers escorted journalists inside a tunnel, which they said was one of Hamas’ most significant and complex underground routes, connecting cities in the embattled territory and used by top Hamas commanders. Israel said Hamas had kept the body of a hostage in the underground passage: Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old soldier who was killed in Gaza more than a decade ago and whose remains had been held there.
Hamas returned Goldin’s body last month as part of a US-brokered ceasefire in the war triggered by the militants’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and hundreds taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says roughly half the dead have been women and children.
Israel and Hamas are on the cusp of finishing the first phase of the truce, which mandated the return of all hostages, living and dead, in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel. The body of just one more hostage remains to be returned.
Mediators warn the second phase will be far more challenging since it includes thornier issues, such as disarming Hamas and Israel’s withdrawal from the strip. Israel currently controls more than half of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington this month to discuss those next steps with US President Donald Trump.
Piles of rubble line Rafah’s roads
Last year, Israel launched a major operation in Rafah, where many Palestinians had sought refuge from offensives elsewhere. Heavy fighting left much of the city in ruins and displaced nearly one million Palestinians. This year, when the military largely had control of the city, it systematically demolished most of the buildings that remained standing, according to satellite photos.
Troops also took control of and shut the vital Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world that was not controlled by Israel.
Israel said Rafah was Hamas’ last major stronghold and key to dismantling the group’s military capabilities, a major war aim.
On the drive around Rafah on Monday, towers of mangled concrete, wires and twisted metal lined the roads, with few buildings still standing and none unscathed. Remnants of people’s lives were scattered the ground: a foam mattress, towels and a book explaining the Qur’an.
Last week, Israel said it was ready to reopen the Rafah crossing but only for people to leave the strip. Egypt and many Palestinians fear that once people leave, they won’t be allowed to return. They say Israel is obligated to open the crossing in both directions.
Israel has said that entry into Gaza would not be permitted until Israel receives all hostages remaining in the strip.
Inside the tunnel
The tunnel that journalists were escorted through runs beneath what was once a densely populated residential neighborhood, under a United Nations compound and mosques. Today, Rafah is a ghost town. Underground, journalists picked their way around dangling cables and uneven concrete slabs covered in sand.
The army says the tunnel is more than 7 kilometers (4 miles) long and up to 25 meters (82 feet) deep and was used for storing weapons as well as long-term stays. It said top Hamas commanders were there during the war, including Mohammed Sinwar — who was believed to have run Hamas’ armed wing and was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack. Israel has said it has killed both of them.
“What we see right here is a perfect example of what Hamas did with all the money and the equipment that was brought into Gaza throughout the years,” said Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani. “Hamas took it and built an incredible city underground for the purposes of terror and holding bodies of hostages.”
Israel has long accused Hamas of siphoning off money for military purposes. While Hamas says the Palestinians are an occupied people and have a right to resist, the group also has a civilian arm and ran a government that provided services such as health care, a police force and education.
The army hasn’t decided what to do with the tunnel. It could seal it with concrete, explode it or hold it for intelligence purposes among other options.
Since the ceasefire began, three soldiers have been killed in clashes with about 200 Hamas militants that Israeli and Egyptian officials say remain underground in Israeli-held territory.
Hamas has said communication with its remaining units in Rafah has been cut off for months and that it was not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas.
Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeated violations of the deal during the first phase. Israel has accused Hamas of dragging out the hostage returns, while Palestinian health officials say over 370 Palestinians have been killed in continued Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect.
