Police hunt for 9 ‘Afrika attackers’

POLICE are on the hunt for nine suspects in connection with last month’s attack on the premises of Afrika newspaper in Lefkoşa and subsequent disturbances at Parliament, as six others were remanded in custody for one month on Tuesday.

Mehmet İpek, 53, Ahmet Türkmen, 46, Ümit Taş, 40, Bayram Ak, 35, Oktay Güney, 32, and Abdülhadi Doğan, 22, were all detained on Monday, a week after the ugly scenes.

They were brought before Lefkoşa District Court on Tuesday on charges of rioting, illegal gathering and damage to property. The arrests were made after protesters smashed the windows of the Afrika office with rocks and other missiles and pulled down its sign, a day after it had run a front-page headline criticising Turkey’s ongoing offensive in Syria.

Police officer Ömer Karadağlı told the court that Türkmen, Doğan and Ak had climbed on to the newspaper’s first-floor flat balcony and caused damage to the property.

The cost of the damage to the newspaper’s premises was put at 16,450TL, the court heard, while a photography shop nearby was also damaged.

Prosecutor Aysın Bilgi said that rioting was a “serious crime” that carried a maximum life sentence.

Judge Tacan Reynar rejected a request for bail, saying that the incidents had created “upheaval”. The decision was met with anger by supporters outside the court, who shouted: “Is this justice?”

A 20-strong group from Büyükkonuk Municipality also laid black wreaths outside the offices of President Mustafa Akıncı, accusing him of “taking sides”.

On Monday Mr Akıncı rejected a report from police chief Hüseyin Manavoğlu on the January 22 incidents.

The report did “not provide all the necessary facts”, Mr Akıncı said in a letter to Mr Manavoğlu, calling for a “more detailed” version to be submitted and asking why the police had not intervened sooner.

In a speech last Saturday Mr Akıncı said Turkish Cypriots were “tolerant towards different opinions” but that this “did not mean being against Turkey”.