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A big thank you goes out to that intrepid traveller that is Solomon Malcolm, London, England, who informed me of this report to be found in one of England's top tabloids - The Guardian. - letters@guardian.co.uk - editor@guardian.co.uk

Solomon, wrote this letter to the Guardian (17th June 2002) after reading the report. Here is Solomon's letter first!

The Guardian , Editorial/letters Dear Sir or madam, Re: AYIA NAPA PUTS THE BOOT INTO ROWDY RAVERS, 17 June,p10

I read the said article with interest. I write for a music website (www.garage-music.com, owned by Carl Brown of Ipswich, carl@anglianet.co.uk) and have written reports on Ayia Napa over the past 3 summers. The report said a lot about the zero tolerance of drugs and high police presence strict penalties. However little was said about the rights of innocent UK tourists caught up in this.

Last year I was questioned and searched on two occasions in the main square by police, during their usual high profile anti clampdowns on Friday nights. They falsely accused me of being a drug dealer. As mentioned on the said site, I do not drink or smoke and very anti drugs. Well I suppose being black and having dreadlocks I fit the 'stereotype'. After searching me and finding nothing they wanted to search my hotel room. I was told I had to sign a form giving my consent for the search, or I would be detained at a police station till they got a court order which could take up to 3 hours. I signed and consented to be led away by them, as I had nothing to fear apart from being humiliated in front of everyone! After finding no drugs they drove me back to square. I was not too pleased with my treatment and their behaviour which can be found at the following link: Ayia Napa 2001: www.garage-music.com/ayianapa2001.htm

It would have been helpful if the report carried information to allay fears, such as rights to a solicitor and to contact the British High Commission. In my case the officers did not tell me this, and said it would make things easier to give my consent on the spot. Also if more police are on the scene, are more solicitors? What are the average waiting times for them or officials from the British High Commission? What about procedures to make complaints about the police?

I was hoping to have some answers to my concerns in the said article, because I have contacted both the Cyprus High Commission and Cyprus Tourist Organisation offices in London, and did not get a positive response from either. Maybe the guardian could follow this matter up?

S Malcolm, London, England. - solomonmalcolm@hotmail.com

Here is the report for all you to read to get some jest of what the fuss is all about.

Ayia Napa puts the boot into rowdy ravers: 'Zero tolerance' plan to transform Cypriot Resort Helena Smith in Ayia Napa, Cyprus: Guardian - Monday June 17, 2002

It's official, the party's over. The "anything goes" atmosphere of Ayia Napa, the Cypriot fishing village turned world famous clubbers' capital, is no more. Ravers who want to "love it up" in the resort will now do so at their own peril, says its mayor.

"If clubbers come here and misbehave, drinking and dancing in the streets and doing goodness knows what, then we'll find a democratic way to send them away if they're not put in jail first," said Barbara Pericleous.

For the people of Ayia Napa, all 3,000 of them, have had enough. And, after a year's training, they are hitting back - policing, regulating and reining in as never before. All the way from the town hall, past the open-front clubs and pubs that lead to the hub of hedonism known as the Square, there is a strange and quiet calm.

Young Britons may come and go - and there are far fewer of them - but club PRs are almost nowhere to be seen. The music is softer and sunrise bars, like the once very public sale of drugs, have it seems been consigned to the very transient bin of clubbers' history.

"Everyone around here is really scared," said one PR, surreptitiously hanging a banner advertising "Europe's largest foam party" from the balcony of a bar. "If you do anything that's deemed to be illegal you're immediately fined. Even handing out fliers is forbidden."

The tourist season may barely have begun, but Ayia Napa definitely knows what it doesn't want. It does not want to be "fashionable" any longer, says Mayor Pericleous, fingering a large gold Orthodox cross dangling from her neck. It does not want to quake under the weight of tens of thousands of bawdy British youngsters in hot pursuit of drug and drink-fuelled pleasure.

It is sickened that across the globe it is now known as sin city. And as for "junkies paradise" - the title it has earned through its association with once readily available ecstasy - on hearing those words, Ms Pericleous, 50, can scarcely contain her rage. "If these people continue to not respect themselves or this place," she snaps, "we'll close the discos. We'll close the pubs, refuse to give clubbers apartments to stay in, and stop them playing garage music."

Tourism may have given Ayia Napa sudden and undreamed of wealth. It may have paid for the children of fishermen and farmers to study abroad. But, says Ms Pericleous, wholesale import of unruly behaviour was the last thing the locals ever imagined. The older generation, without any experience of a drink and drugs culture, had been subjected to appalling scenes. Often the music was so loud they were unable to sleep. And then there were all those copulating clubber couples.

"We worked very hard to get where we are," said the economist who has overseen the local affairs of Ayia Napa for the past 20 years.

"A lot of us, including myself, had to grow cucumbers and tomatoes in the fields before tourism gave us other means. But the last thing we ever wanted was this bad name."

Often, British clubbers arrived in Ayia Napa believing it was an island and not part of a bigger place called Cyprus. Zero tolerance has been enforced to an at times comical degree. Pub-crawls have been banned. Closing hours for clubs and pubs are enforced with an iron hand. And a team of beefy municipal lifeguards has been pressed into service. Alongside an army of informants (mostly London-born Cypriots) and undercover policemen, they prowl Ayia Napa's alleyways and streets with the sole purpose of stopping club PRs and drug smugglers peddling their wares. Even chambermaids have been trained to "spot" drugs.

"By July we'll have increased all our forces, from the anti-drug squad to under cover policemen, maybe five or six times," says the police commissioner, Savvas Chailis, who heads the entire southern Cyprus region. "Our foot patrols and alcohol tests for drivers have already had great results." Last week three British tourists were arrested and charged in Ayia Napa with possessing ecstasy pills. With fears of drug abuse growing among the population, the conservative government is poised to pass legislation that would also allow police to shut down premises where drugs are sold.

What Ayia Napa wants, says its mayor echoing a now commonly held view, is nice people, families with children, who will actually enjoy the resort's famous sandy beaches. After all, there were so many "clean" pleasures, such as fishing trips.

"We don't want to give the impression of being a police state," said the island's tourism minister, Nicos Rolandis. "There just have to be some limits."

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited - letters@guardian.co.uk - 2002

As you can see the authorites of Ayia Napia from the report above are stamping down on loutish behaviour in one of the worlds most favourite party holiday events for Dance music.

However, not even one agreees with the mayor - Please read below.

HajiMike music producer, DJ etc, in Cyprus - hajimichael.m@intercollege.ac.cy disagrees with this all….

(*I have to point out another letter that you may have read originally has been ammended - Haji Mike has asked for this letter to be used instead - Printed now in The Cyprus Weekly - 28th June, 2002.)

AYIA NAPA AND THE BAD PRESS

By Haji Mike - The Cyprus Weekly

‘Never believe what you read in the papers’ ­ it’s a statement that empowers readers to be critical of anything said or written in the print media. Another way of turning it around is may be ‘it’s unbelievable what people say or write’. Lately it’s become apparent that Ayia Napa is getting truck loads of ‘bad press’ in the British media particularly reports in so-called ‘quality’ and ‘tabloid’ British newspapers, namely ‘The Guardian’ and ‘Daily Star’. In both articles it is claimed ‘all 3,000 residents of Ayia Napa’ are sick and tired of the clubs and the Mayor, Barbara Pericleous is ‘leading’ some sort of ‘crusade’ against ‘clubbing’. ‘Drugs’ is yet again the central theme, with Helena Smith of the Guardian(English tabloid) proclaiming “With fears of drug abuse growing among the population, the conservative government is poised to pass legislation that would also allow police to shut down premises where drugs are sold.”

In the piece, the Mayor is described as ‘fuelled with rage’ and wants to make Ayia Napa not "fashionable" any longer, fingering a large gold Orthodox cross dangling from her neck.’ The power of these depictions to a ‘Guardian-reading’ British audience is obvious. Overall both articles have generated a wave of bad/negative publicity on the resort. This is particularly disturbing for a number of reasons. They send a clear signal to any one reading them that all 3,000 residents of the town want the clubbers out. Who these clubbers actually are, demographically is not explained beyond those who like ‘garage’ music.

For any one who knows there are many brands of ‘garage’- such as ‘UK’ ‘US’, and the seemingly over hyped and short-lived ‘Speed’ hybrid. Some times people like one form as opposed to the other. Also who the residents are, and what this sweeping statement is based on is never defined. Clearly not all 3,000 residents voted for the Mayor. Also many people employed in the ‘clubbing business’ live in Ayia Napa. Tourism brings wealth to the town and local economy, and a part of this, at least 2-3 months during the summer is based around ‘clubbing and young people’.

Another possible angle is the Mayor did say exactly what the papers printed. If so it does seem rather hypocritical and irrational to be discouraging clubbers. One major company, the Melas Group has several big groups and DJ’s scheduled for various clubs, including Trevor Nelson, SoSolidCrew, Lisa Loud, Rampage and Tim Westwood. There’s also the competition factor this summer. Many tour operators are encouraging British tourists to go to places like Faliraki (Rhodes),Kos and Zakynthos. So people employed in the positive promotion of Ayia Napa are fighting a hard battle.

Another aspect of the apparent hypocracy is the fact that both the municipality of Ayia Napa and Paralimni have agreed to the staging of ‘Award Fest 2002’ ­ probably the biggest live music even Cyprus has ever seen (if you don’t believe check the web site http://www.awardfest.com). So it does seem bizarre that the Mayor is on this apparent anti-club crusade and yet has agreed to the staging of such happenings. What then are some of the people involved in the ‘clubbing scene’ saying about these manipulative statements by the British Press:

Paris from Guru.- “Not every one is behind the Mayor. I think people realise the whole marketing approach is wrong and all we are giving people through these articles in the British press is negative marketing. There are 100 other positive things the Mayor could have talked about. Businesses will be in deep trouble because of what the Mayor said. If the mission was to destroy Ayia Napa then we should have known about it years ago. People have invested millions in the scene here and it seems like that is not being taken into account.”

Tony editor of What’s On publication “There are many opinions on this but July and August is ‘youth’ clubbing time ­ 50 year olds plus /family people tend to come to Ayia Napa in September/October. Basically I think people haven’t got a clue what they are doing. 19 clubs have 19 licenses in 1 sq mile and talking without thinking about what you’re saying has serious repercussion. Promoters and moneymakers made Ayia Napa what it is today and the Mayor fully endorsed all this. Bad publicity is not what Ayia Napa needs.”

Nick Power, Kool Club/Mythology “I can’t really understand what the Mayor is trying to do. May be she’s going to return Ayia Napa to being a ‘tomato’ and ‘cucumber’ state!. Banning club culture will have a dramatic effect on tourism ­ and it’s important to realise that it’s down any way so trying to turn people away is complete madness’

The official CTO figures on the significance of ‘clubbing tourism’ in Ayia Napa do speak for themselves. A total of 2,500,000 tourists visited Cyprus in 2001 ­ 16.46% of whom stayed in Ayia Napa ­ a figure of 411,500 people. Of these about 42% were clubbers who stayed for an average number of 11.6 days and spent about £52 per day. So the income to Ayia Napa from clubbers staying in the resort was £104,251,056.

These statistics ignore the ‘Ayia Napa’ phenomenon in relation to tourists and locals coming to the town from other parts of Cyprus. There’s also the ‘globalization’ factor, i.e. CD compilations, web sites and ‘Napa’ re-unions in places far and wide ­ from Cardiff to Epping Forest!

Finally, and perhaps most worrying of all is the consequences for British Black tourists in particular. And here I will be specific because many people shrouding themselves in the moral panic of ‘clubbing=drugs’ syndrome never accept responsibility for their misguided heavy-handed actions on innocent individuals. The evidence on policing methods is self-explanatory. It is a sign of the times that the police want to single out Black British tourists with the intention of stigmatising them as ‘drug dealers’. The last thing any body wants on holiday is hassle. The following is an email sent to us from Solomon Malcolm ­ he has posted this to the CTO and Attorney General, Alecos Markides. And has not a response from either:

“Last year I was questioned and searched on two occasions in the main square by police, during their usual high profile anti drugs clampdowns on Friday nights. They falsely accused me of being a drug dealer….I do not drink or smoke and am very anti drugs. Well I suppose being black and having dreadlocks I fit the 'stereotype'. After searching me and finding nothing they wanted to search my hotel room. I was told I had to sign a form giving my consent for the search, or I would be detained at a police station till they got a court order which could take up to 3 hours. I signed and consented to be led away by them, as I had nothing to fear apart from being humiliated in front of everyone!

After finding no drugs they drove me back to square. I was not too pleased with my treatment and their behaviour which can be found at the following link: Ayia Napa 2001: www.garage-music.com/ayianapa2001.htm

It would have been helpful if their report carried information to allay fears, such as rights to a solicitor and to contact the British High Commission. In my case the officers did not tell me this, and said it would make things easier to give my consent on the spot. Also if more police are on the scene, are more solicitors? What are the average waiting times for them or officials from the British High Commission? What about procedures to make complaints about the police?

I was hoping to have some answers to my concerns because I have contacted both the Cyprus High Commission and Cyprus Tourist Organisation offices in London, and did not get a positive response from either.

Yours truly

Solomon Malcolm.”

In conclusion, it is these kinds of stories that are not being considered. People have rights, tourists, residents, and club entrepreneurs included. Until there is an effort to consider the mutual benefit of all then we will be walking up the same dead end road. A common strategy that involves every one is what is needed. In the mean time we’ll just have to live with the bad press and weather the storms. - Haji Mike - The Cyprus Weekly, 28th June, 2002

Many more concerns were raised on this same matter since then. What are your views on this same subject. Are you going to Ayia Napia this year. Do you aggree with the statements that the Mayor has made, or do you go along with Hajimichel? Please give us your views!!

This is copyrighted. If you would like to use this or any of the images please contact Mr.Carl Brown(Ipswich, England) and to do so.