The Rizoelia roundabout was blocked for about two hours from eight in the morning by hundreds of hunters of the newly formed party of Cypriot Hunters from all the provinces of free Cyprus, who demanded acceptance of their requests from the Minister of Interior.
The hunters gathered around seven in the morning in the parking lot of the reception center in Aradippou and from there they drove to the roundabout of Rizoelia which they cut off so that there is no traffic to and from Nicosia, Ayia Napa, Larnaca and Aarno. . Despite the fact that the Police had made the necessary road arrangements on the affected highways with alternative routes, nevertheless several drivers, mainly from Nicosia, were trapped at the roundabout.
Eventually, with the intervention of the Police, the hunters moved their vehicles in order for the trapped drivers to escape from the area.
A strong force of MMAD, the Larnaca Police Directorate and the Aradippou Police Station headed by Larnaca Police Director Christakis Papadimitriou was found in the area this morning.
Around 09.30 and after the mediation of the Minister of Interior, the protesting hunters solved the "siege" of the roundabout and shortly before ten the Police gave to the traffic all the affected highways.
In his statements, Nikolas Prodromou, a representative of the Cypriot Hunters party, apologized "to the world for the suffering that arose due to the protest of the hunters. We had a response from the competent Ministry and it was decided that a meeting with Minister Konstantinos Petridis will be scheduled by Thursday ".
Mr. Prodromou warned that "if there is no meeting with the Minister of Interior by Thursday, then more drastic measures will be taken, we will strike everywhere and we will paralyze the whole of Cyprus. This is our commitment to all and we thank the Minister for his immediate response to our request for a meeting ".
The General Director of the Ministry of Interior, Kypros Kyprianou, stated in KYPE that "on Friday a meeting was held with the Pancyprian Hunters Federation, with which we discussed various issues concerning hunters and certainly the Federation does not adopt the positions of the specific group that protested today. of Rizoelia ".
As Mr. Kyprianou explained, "this group has a different view on various issues, including whether dog training will be allowed for most of the year.
The Federation and the Hunting Service are opposed to this issue as they consider that such a thing will have a very adverse effect on hunting since we are talking about breeding and nesting periods and such a thing will cause damage to the prey ".
He added that "everyone can express their position, but you can not ignore the vast majority of hunters who believe that in this case their views are identical with those of the Hunting Service."
Mr. Kyprianou also noted that the protesting hunters sent in early April, "a letter to the Ministry, with a telephone number and urgently requested to meet with the Minister of Interior, while otherwise they would close the Rizoelia roundabout.
"I have the feeling that such a thing is not acceptable, that is, the state should be blackmailed by any group that a meeting should be held with" this is what I want ", otherwise I will block roads". He also stated that "this group should request a meeting with the Minister of Interior and as we see so many other people, we should see them as well, but not under the threat regime".
It is noted that the Movement has six requests in total, ie the money from the renewals / issuance of hunting licenses must be deposited in the hunting associations and not in the Game and Fauna Service. They also demand that hunting dogs be allowed to be practiced throughout the territory of the Republic of Cyprus during the period January-February, in limited areas between March-April-May, which is a nesting period, and throughout the territory from 1 June.
They also demand that the hunting of vines with a flopper be allowed, that the hunting of the turtledove be allowed during the period of April, that the fight against poaching be strengthened and that corrupt gamekeepers be removed immediately by the Hunting and Fauna Service and promoted by Poaching by the Cyprus Police to combat the phenomenon of poisoning and theft of hounds.
Source: KYPE