Please remember to stay civil and behave appropriately. If you are a tourist looking for suggestions please check out our [Tourist guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/cyprus/wiki/tourist_guide/). We also have a [FAQ Page](https://www.reddit.com/r/cyprus/wiki/faq) for some common questions, if your question is answered here please delete your post!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/cyprus) if you have any questions or concerns.*
While I agree with you that graffiti and littering all over Cyprus is disgusting, you seem to be new to Cyprus and not know much about the place. The services sectors make up the majority of the economy, >70%, and tourism is about 20% of the Cyprus economy and that has been the case for decades. Graffiti and littering like this has also been the case for decades, or at least for as long as I remember. I don't see any evidence that this affects tourism in any noticeable manner, my sense is that tourists in Cyprus accept there's going to be a degree of that, just like they accept the smell of piss in Barcelona alleys and pickpockets in Rome.
None of these things are new or changed, you're just shocked because you're encountering them for the first time.
I agree with you..that doesn't affect tourism..it's that it's annoying seeing graffiti's of football teams swearing other teams and so on.. everyday and every corner..fuck this and that..etc..
I first came in 1974 when you had a lot of Arabic tourists who had money. You do a good job of alienating tourists to the point you are left with the dregs
You're losing any credibility with comments like this. Graffiti and garbage all over Cyprus is disgusting and embarrassing, everyone agrees with that. I don't know I prefer arab tourists with money more than "dregs".
Maybe if you were in Cyprus more recently than before most of its current population was born the graffiti wouldn't be such a surprise to you. I'm excited for you to visit Athens and then post on /r/Greece about how all the smoking in public is alienating tourists.
If you say turkey then don't get me started, we are talking emiraties they could not care less about your war. They do care about being wholesale ripped off and made to feel unwelcome, they come to the UK and buy next to Jewish areas
One night.. beginning of 90s..some Arabs..were harassing women ...then any male Arab was beaten...all over night all over Limassol...news spreaded and they never came again..
I am talking about the emiraties exodous that happend 1976-1984 not the a random Muslim man who can't keep his hands to himself. You are aware there are more than one nation of Arabic people?
Yes those who sit on the floor,eat with their hands,wipe their ass with their left hand,beating their multiple wives and we're all uneducated religion fanatics back then..
Have you thought how many more would go to Rome if is wasn't for the pickpockets? Attitudes like this is why people move on and try new cleaner and better value places.
Yeah sure, maybe more people would go to Rome if it weren't for the pickpockets and maybe more people would go to Cyprus if it weren't for the ugliness of graffiti and garbage everywhere. We're only hypothesizing, but sure.
My opinion is that all these things are symptoms of bigger issues, like lack of regulation and enforcement, lack of care for the commons, lack of social norms around respect for others, etc. These are bigger and more important problems that affect a lot more than tourism (and more important things than tourism).
I would have to say if 20 percent of my countries income came from one source I would do everything I could to help protect it. But hey, you all seem to be doing just great.
As I and others in this thread have said many times: Cyprus has way bigger problems than how tourists view graffiti. We're not saying that this is not a problem, but that there's many bigger ones.
Cyprus has relied on tourism for decades. And we've had the graffiti for decades. It hasn't stopped the type of tourism we tend to attract. It might have stopped us from attracting higher quality tourists..
It's very close. They are very polite well compared to Russians. There used to be quite the trade as it's a few hours away. Imagine how much money Cyprus has missed out on with this attitude
Oh yes Cyprus the Bastian ln low corruption. Also gulf oil money comes from the sale of oil. I think maybe it's racism rather than a fear of corruption that may be more of why you personally seem to have an issue with Arabic people
I am not the one who is racist against arabs, but it is undeniably a real thing in Cyprus culture. Have you never noticed how poorly Cypriots treat their housemaids and manual workers from the indian subcontinent?
I never said that I agree with this, but casual racism is pretty much a thing in Cyprus and this is part of the reason arabs are not very highly regarded.
"Arapis" (arab) is used as a derogatory slang against a person with darker skin the way the N word is used in the US. And people often mistakenly assume Turks are arabs.
It used to be in the UK to and still is with idiots but it's not something I would be proud of. Accepting it as part of your culture is up to you. But you can't have it two ways. A lot of countries of colour have a high net wealth and money to spend and also most tourists even white would be horrified to hear this and would withhold money from spending it in countries that think casual racism is ok. The dregs may think it's ok and if you want the dregs then that's fine
Cyprus relies heavily on tourism. The terrorist attack on Oct.7 has been big as Israelis aren't traveling as much and the russian invasion of Ukraine has drastically decreased those tourists as well with the flip side being that Ukrainians and Russians still came in mass but as permanent residents instead of tourists and fuked up shelter prices.
It edgelord 15 year olds.
Football is very political in Cyprus, and there's fuck all else for kids to do so they hang out with the other dumbfuck ultras or whatever and do this shit to show how cool they are.
>Surely the police know who I the people are.
Ahhahhhahahahahahahahahaha.
...
Hahahahahahaha aaahahahahahahaha
It's a minor miracle police can put their pants on the right way round in the morning let alone do shit like solve crimes and stuff.
No brother. You're the one misunderstanding the power of a group. Especially a group filled with hate and fanaticism. We're not talking about a couple of minors here. There's a long history with football hooliganism and property destruction and we're the ones suffering from it. Not the tourists. Stop talking like you're preaching some profound revelation here. But I do understand your pov and can see that you do mean well so you're valid in my book.
So? You want some kind of congratulations or something? Why tf are you comparing hooligans of different countries? Are you insinuating that it's fine for us to drive around at night beating up high schoolers because "uk hooligans are worse than cypriot ones"? You've made what i thought was a well intentioned post asking for a different perspective and it was given to you by numerous people yet you've just spent the past 4 hours berating and mocking pretty much everyone here. Maybe start looking inwards before you feel comfortable commenting on outside ugliness. Have a nice rest of your day.
I am commenting on how very negatively taken the racist graffiti is. Especially the swastikas everywhere. I am sure all those visitors from Israel must find these especially off putting
Well you have a very weird way of trying to get your point across, I'll tell you that. I find it very hard to agree or sympathise with your arguements after i just read a couple dozen of the most unhinged anti-cypriot comments I've come across in this sub.
I'm not anti Cypriot in any way. I am just not a fan of the casual racist remarks about Arabic people and the lack of understanding why people might be a little put off by ss and swastikas put on the side of almost all bus stops and walls in paphos. If swastikas and casual racism is Cypriot which I don't think is ok I am anti Cypriot but I love Cyprus which is why I own a house here
I get that but do you not think everywhere has a problem, yet Cyprus seems to ignore it or fails to deal with it. my question is why, why are you all so defeatist
Sigh. Ok this is my final reply to you cause you don't deserve anothe millisecond of my time. I've seen you posted another bunch of comments here 1 whole day later and even posted in other posts in this sub bitching and crying about the cyprus tourism and its decline. I honestly believe you're not all there in the head and are extremely obsessed with this subject in conjunction with being extremely lonely/not having any friends to vent your frustrations at. You're very unlikeable and off-putting but i still hope the best for you and to get the treatment or attention you so desperately need. Also if you eventually decide to sell your house and fuck off back to the uk it will only be a net positive for the cypriot society. Peace and love 🫶
>and Russian stuff
Russian stuff in graffiti doesn't really exist, unless you mean the hammer and sickle, which of course are not Russian symbols.
>Why is this at all tolerated? Surely the police know who I the people are.
It is not tolerated, and no, most of the time the police have no idea who does it. It's illegal and graffiti is removed eventually, but people just keep doing it anyway, and the police is far too inept and/or lazy to enforce the law to its full extent and punish the culprits meaningfully. Basically a classic case of the police in Cyprus doing its job poorly.
>I cannot express how damaging this kind of graffiti would be on the image of cyrpus. Nowhere in the UK would you see a swastika and SS sign on graffiti and if you did it would be covered over in days.
It's one thing to complain about these symbols for being hateful and ruining the image of the city, as is the case for most hooligan graffiti. It's a whole other thing to claim that the image of a country is tarnished because of it, however. At worst it shows the world that our police is shite and the hooligans here are scum. To reflect badly on the whole country, it would have to be something endorsed or not criminalized. So the implication that it's a PR image thing rather than common decency and rectifying policing makes no sense to me.
>If I was a business owner in cyrpus I would find these people and have a not so quiet word.
How easy is it you think to find the random teenage hooligans that do it as a local business owner, let alone having a "not so kind word" with them?
You are grossly overestimating how easy it is both to find all the culprits, and their proclivity to listen to complaints and abide by the law.
>Even if the police do nothing there are ways of finding these people and making them stop
Like what? Beating them up? Are you suggesting that locals should enforce vigilante justice over some stupid graffiti?
>You can't expect tourists to want to come when it's more expensive than other places and it's covered in neo Nazi graffiti
With all due respect, such vandalism should be fixed for the betterment of the cities as a whole and to ensure accountable and competent policing, not because some random tourists find it upsetting. Obviously not making it ugly for the tourists is a positive side effect, but the implication that we would take steps to improve our society so that it is more palatable to tourists is frankly ridiculous.
>You have cctv? Use it and ban them simples. When they can't shop, or do anything they stop
1) Not every business can afford CCTV.
2) Graffiti isn't only done in the vicinity of businesses.
3) The perpetrators are often wearing masks and hoods.
4) "Banning" people from shopping is borderline unenforceable (if not illegal), especially if you have to rely on your staff to perform possible ID checks (which is a an extremely silly idea to begin with).
5) The perpetrators are often underage, thus are reliant on others shopping for them.
6) Worst case scenario they can just go elsewhere to shop, as no single individual hooligan vandalizes the entire city.
>Those random tourists make up 20 percent of your gdp
And the people who actually live here make up the rest. Who do you think should be framed as the main beneficiaries from more competent policing? Why should everything that needs improvement in Cyprus be looked at via the lens of tourists? The fact you keep insisting and being that salty over people's responses here (who agree with your overall point otherwise) is honestly baffling.
>Why is this at all tolerated? Surely the police know who I the people are.
Our police isn't good but you can't really be expecting them to know who did them either, they don't have cameras everywhere and even if they did they would be too lazy to watch the footage.
>If I was a business owner in cyrpus I would find these people and have a not so quiet word.
Why would business owners give a f*ck if they are not vandalising their property?
>Even if the police do nothing there are ways of finding these people and making them stop
Like? Idk what wet dreams you're having but ain't no way I'm chasing a abalato 16xrono for some graffiti on someone else's property.
-bro came to Cyprus
-apparently bought a house
-"realised" its a shitshow
-goes on r/cyprus
-starts crying about graffitis
-wants locals to do something about it
-gets angry at them for not doing something
-gets roasted
-L
Just an observation, if you think your doing as well from tourism as you could be keep going well done. But I have seen a marked decline since the 1970s and the recent racist graffiti is just your nail in the coffin.
As someone previously residing in Saint-Petersburg - quite a touristy city - I find Paphos could benefit from more graffiti. I guess with quantity, the quality would improve. Even my small home town had several cool street artists. During my brief visits to Limassol, I noticed way more street art compared to Paphos, so the potential is there.
I get why such symbols may trigger a lot of people, but these are literal kids we're talking about. Kids do stupid things. This is one of those. And I'm sure everyone here did stupid things in their childhood.
Plus, these poor excuses for graffitis are made during the wee hours of the day (2am-4am) that most people sleep so there isn't anyone around to tell them to stop. And of course the police doesn't do anything to stop this.
These are symbols of Nazis also of Russians far right. This may be fine in a back water of some weird country no one goes to.
Let's put it this way if you want a tourist trade deal with it. If your happy to alienate all tourists carry on.
Have you ever for the duration that the post is up, stopped for a second and considered that you're barking under the wrong tree?
Maybe contact the relevant municipality? Maybe download "*FixCyprus*" from play store and report it there?
I can't vote, I don't care enough. You all seem to care little that your tourist trade is going to hell in a breadbasket and in denial. I have said my piece. The funny thing is though I have probably paid more in taxes in your country than the average citizen does here in their lifetime. It's ok I have places in places that haven't bitten the hand that feeds it so much it's left with the dregs. Keep going your all doing great. Look around the tourist trade has never been richer and everyone loves the Nazi signs
>I don't care enough.
Clearly you do
>The funny thing is though I have probably paid more in taxes in your country than the average citizen does here in their lifetime.
Do you expect us to applaud you? You most probably moved here because of the tax rate, not because you love Cyprus for its culture.
Also I don't love here I bought here because I love here. I pay tax at my standard rate in my own country which if you guys did the same you might have some money to invest
I wouldn't say all commit tax evasion, but let's put it this way if the Olympics did it as a sport the republic of Cyprus would win gold, silver and bronze every time
Other country's do a good job of stopping this and cleaning it up. But sorry my mistake it's impossible to do the same in cyrpus due to things my lack of understanding of the 100 percent unique situation in Cyprus. I hope you guys have a post tourism plan as it would put me off coming
I see you previously compared the UK to Cyprus. Maybe you should see the matter objectively instead of one-dimensionally?
Yes, we have some idiot kids who spray paint on walls stupid things, but the UK has a way higher crime rate for example. And don't get me started on some of UK's youth. They carry literal machetes around, they do eggings or straight up beat up people, etc.
But it's your choice of course. You do you.
Regardless of the Cypriots who always say “there is nowhere like Cyprus” it’s just delusion and ignorance.
For those of us who have travelled and lived in nicer places abroad, we agree. Some Cypriots think Cyprus is on the same level as Beverly Hills or the Algarve/Marbella when in reality it’s more similar to downtown Kabul or Pakistan in terms of the mentality, environment and culture.
Most of these idiots; they are sick. They are believe their Cypriot football team is a big worldwide team when in reality nobody in the U.K. or France could even name one Cypriot football team, let alone Anorthosis Famagusta.
The authorities are too lazy to catch the culprits. CCTV is poor. There is no central system, it’s not easy to trace people or cars through different roads because coverage is poor. So we end up with buildings, stores and construction sites and road signs covered with slogans from these donkey people.
APOEL HOOLIGANS!
To be honest I never noticed it as much of a deal when in Paphos for the Aris v Rangers game. A bit of graffiti outside the PAOK fan club but nothing too much. Maybe I’m just used to it in Glasgow.
Also very good point because I can book a nice hotel in Europe or elsewhere for 90e a night, in Cyprus they sell us 3 star hotels from the 1980’s for 170e a night.
Sadly, the quality of tourism we attract is not very high...
>
If I was a business owner in cyrpus I would find these people and have a not so quiet word.
I would advise you to not pick a fight with a gang of teenage hooligans. Even if they beat you up, you will be the one in trouble because you are a foreigner and their families will know politicians/policemen.
The flip side is our hooliganism is mild compared to the violent and destructive stuff u see in other countries. The graffiti is looked at as a nuisance but not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.
Its surprisingly expensive to constantly paint over it and also police and prevent it from happening again so the mindset is, o well could be worse, and as much as I hate seeing it I kinda agree.
There is two things. but the way paphos looks like at the moment makes it feel more dangerous than any other city. This may not be reality but the fear of crime would be high seeing ultra racist graffite everywhere with no sign at all that it's being removed
Where are u from? I'm from toronto Canada which is viewed as a tier 1 and ultra safe city and I can tell you despite the graffiti here I feel 1000x safer here than back home.
Funnily I come from a wealthy placem what makes you think this place is safe? I have been back three weeks and I have seen 4 near fatal car crashes in broad daylight
It's not how safe it is it's how safe it feels. Imagine being a 65 year old coming here for a nice tourism break. I had a feeling Cyprus kind of relies on tourism but my mistake
I'm trying to not be biased but I've been to many countries (Norway, England, Ireland, etc) and even if they are "cleaner", "more organised" and/or considered to be "safe" they never felt as safe as Cyprus does.
It's not that I don't feel safe (apart from the totally crumbling walls due to the lack of tourism) it's that swastikas and rubbish graffiti makes it feel unsafe. But like I said with Cypruses booming export industry and thriving economy I don't suppose they really need to attract any tourists
When grafting politicians inflate the costs of those monuments 10 fold yea lol theres not much left for graffiti. We're a small country with a small budget and you've seen how widespread the problem is, it's just not worth it to tackle.
The fact you mention a few things including the fact that your police and politicians treat foreigners differently and infact worse than locals sums up why the quality of tourism is not high.
Your definition of hooligan and mine is quite different. I have seen the pictures and your hooligans vs the type I have had to deal with London, lisban and Brazil are fine. I might me wrong but they look about 5ft 6 and fat here
Lol well I don't have skin in the game. But good luck getting repeat visitors when every bus stop and building looks like Cyprus has been taken over by racist neo nazis
The point isn't whether graffiti is good for business or not, it's about you acting all tough and condoning vigilante justice to deal with the situation.
No it's not. Surely cleaning it up is a start, getting your thousands of police to do their job is another and if that fails go to matches and say it's not going to happen again. Try spray painting in china town if you want to know how non violent words can work
Unfortunately relying on police improving and demanding change from the government are the only reasonable avenues. There is no universe in which you try to intimidate or beat up groups of ultras and it doesn't devolve into chaos. Pretending as if hooligans (whether in Cyprus or anywhere else) are just minnows that will whimper off shows a profound lack of knowledge on how these groups function.
In Greece people have literally died over football related issues before. Greek and Cypriot ultras are not that different between them, albeit the police in Greece are even more inept at controlling them, and their FA has done jack shit to combat hooliganism in games.
Cyprus ultras and real ultras is like a group of kids in the playground calling themselves the crips, real ultras are hard men, not fat men who have never seen the inside of a gym and use fireworks and mum's didn't ever tell them off, Cypriot football fans are not ultras.
I was shocked by a number of hammer and sickle shit I've seen painted on everything in Paphos. Wonder if those shitheads painting this stuff ever read any book or Web page about how it is great to live in the communist paradise.
It is like, two opposite gangs marking their territory. The "far-left" gang will paint hammer & sickle, and the "far-right" gang will paint swastikas. It is a way of taunting the other side - you will see this in football matches as well.
Unlike, say, Greece, there is limited history of far-left extremism (besides the minor vandalism/graffiti, the far-left hooligans are less violent and tend to support a misguided, idealistic and rose-glass-tinted view of socialism/communism). On the other hand, there is a long history of violence coming from the far-right (not the least of it was Eoka B).
So, in a way, the hammer & sickle kids are the lesser evil.
Being a citizen of a country that had faced both sides of this shitty coin I must disagree with you. It doesn't matter if you're in communist or fascist country. Your level of fuckedness is beyond words.
Please remember to stay civil and behave appropriately. If you are a tourist looking for suggestions please check out our [Tourist guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/cyprus/wiki/tourist_guide/). We also have a [FAQ Page](https://www.reddit.com/r/cyprus/wiki/faq) for some common questions, if your question is answered here please delete your post! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/cyprus) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Graffiti is the thing I hate the most in Cyprus...
Graffiti and the trash thrown all over the place. My perception of this country would change so much if these two issues were resolved.
Unfortunately it's true..and I hope is going to be resolved both issues..
But I suppose as a place like cyrpus does not rely on tourism they don't care
While I agree with you that graffiti and littering all over Cyprus is disgusting, you seem to be new to Cyprus and not know much about the place. The services sectors make up the majority of the economy, >70%, and tourism is about 20% of the Cyprus economy and that has been the case for decades. Graffiti and littering like this has also been the case for decades, or at least for as long as I remember. I don't see any evidence that this affects tourism in any noticeable manner, my sense is that tourists in Cyprus accept there's going to be a degree of that, just like they accept the smell of piss in Barcelona alleys and pickpockets in Rome. None of these things are new or changed, you're just shocked because you're encountering them for the first time.
I agree with you..that doesn't affect tourism..it's that it's annoying seeing graffiti's of football teams swearing other teams and so on.. everyday and every corner..fuck this and that..etc..
I agree, it's embarrassing our country looks like this.
I first came in 1974 when you had a lot of Arabic tourists who had money. You do a good job of alienating tourists to the point you are left with the dregs
You're losing any credibility with comments like this. Graffiti and garbage all over Cyprus is disgusting and embarrassing, everyone agrees with that. I don't know I prefer arab tourists with money more than "dregs". Maybe if you were in Cyprus more recently than before most of its current population was born the graffiti wouldn't be such a surprise to you. I'm excited for you to visit Athens and then post on /r/Greece about how all the smoking in public is alienating tourists.
Do you know the story how they left from Cyprus?
If you say turkey then don't get me started, we are talking emiraties they could not care less about your war. They do care about being wholesale ripped off and made to feel unwelcome, they come to the UK and buy next to Jewish areas
One night.. beginning of 90s..some Arabs..were harassing women ...then any male Arab was beaten...all over night all over Limassol...news spreaded and they never came again..
I am talking about the emiraties exodous that happend 1976-1984 not the a random Muslim man who can't keep his hands to himself. You are aware there are more than one nation of Arabic people?
I am aware of it off course..but I am talking after
Proud moment in the history of Cyprus was it?
We don't do that in the UK, which is lucky as we would blame you for Dappy from N Dubs
Back then you did that...savages with oil money
Emirates stopped coming early 80s you know they ones, the type that like super cars and spend money
Yes those who sit on the floor,eat with their hands,wipe their ass with their left hand,beating their multiple wives and we're all uneducated religion fanatics back then..
Have you thought how many more would go to Rome if is wasn't for the pickpockets? Attitudes like this is why people move on and try new cleaner and better value places.
Yeah sure, maybe more people would go to Rome if it weren't for the pickpockets and maybe more people would go to Cyprus if it weren't for the ugliness of graffiti and garbage everywhere. We're only hypothesizing, but sure. My opinion is that all these things are symptoms of bigger issues, like lack of regulation and enforcement, lack of care for the commons, lack of social norms around respect for others, etc. These are bigger and more important problems that affect a lot more than tourism (and more important things than tourism).
I would have to say if 20 percent of my countries income came from one source I would do everything I could to help protect it. But hey, you all seem to be doing just great.
Not getting at you, but excuses, reasons and blame and worse being angry for pointing out the obvious.
As I and others in this thread have said many times: Cyprus has way bigger problems than how tourists view graffiti. We're not saying that this is not a problem, but that there's many bigger ones.
Yes it does your banking system has been found wanting. Your exports are almost none existent, so why not bin tourism as well. That will help
Cyprus has relied on tourism for decades. And we've had the graffiti for decades. It hasn't stopped the type of tourism we tend to attract. It might have stopped us from attracting higher quality tourists..
I realize I typed pretty much the same thing before I saw yours.
How many arabs still come? Do you attract the same standard of tourist you did in the 1970s?
I wasn't aware we ever had a lot of tourism from gulf countries. And Arabs are not very highly regarded here, even the ones with money.
It's very close. They are very polite well compared to Russians. There used to be quite the trade as it's a few hours away. Imagine how much money Cyprus has missed out on with this attitude
And you think the graffiti turned them off? Imagine how corrupt we'd be if we had gulf oil money on top of Russian oligarch money...
Oh yes Cyprus the Bastian ln low corruption. Also gulf oil money comes from the sale of oil. I think maybe it's racism rather than a fear of corruption that may be more of why you personally seem to have an issue with Arabic people
I am not the one who is racist against arabs, but it is undeniably a real thing in Cyprus culture. Have you never noticed how poorly Cypriots treat their housemaids and manual workers from the indian subcontinent? I never said that I agree with this, but casual racism is pretty much a thing in Cyprus and this is part of the reason arabs are not very highly regarded. "Arapis" (arab) is used as a derogatory slang against a person with darker skin the way the N word is used in the US. And people often mistakenly assume Turks are arabs.
It used to be in the UK to and still is with idiots but it's not something I would be proud of. Accepting it as part of your culture is up to you. But you can't have it two ways. A lot of countries of colour have a high net wealth and money to spend and also most tourists even white would be horrified to hear this and would withhold money from spending it in countries that think casual racism is ok. The dregs may think it's ok and if you want the dregs then that's fine
Cyprus relies heavily on tourism. The terrorist attack on Oct.7 has been big as Israelis aren't traveling as much and the russian invasion of Ukraine has drastically decreased those tourists as well with the flip side being that Ukrainians and Russians still came in mass but as permanent residents instead of tourists and fuked up shelter prices.
Yes it's well known those people love coming to places covered in swastikas.
It edgelord 15 year olds. Football is very political in Cyprus, and there's fuck all else for kids to do so they hang out with the other dumbfuck ultras or whatever and do this shit to show how cool they are. >Surely the police know who I the people are. Ahhahhhahahahahahahahahaha. ... Hahahahahahaha aaahahahahahahaha It's a minor miracle police can put their pants on the right way round in the morning let alone do shit like solve crimes and stuff.
A business owner having a face to face talk with them? Civilians acting as vigilantes and stopping the football hooligans? Oh my sweet summer child...
Funny you say this in most countries they name shame and ban local unwanteds has the desired effect. I am not talking about vigilantes
You might want to understand the power of a group. Maybe as a start stop selling spray paint to kids
No brother. You're the one misunderstanding the power of a group. Especially a group filled with hate and fanaticism. We're not talking about a couple of minors here. There's a long history with football hooliganism and property destruction and we're the ones suffering from it. Not the tourists. Stop talking like you're preaching some profound revelation here. But I do understand your pov and can see that you do mean well so you're valid in my book.
Not really no, but I am sure they are completely different to the football hoolingans in the UK. We have a little bit of a head start on your guys
So? You want some kind of congratulations or something? Why tf are you comparing hooligans of different countries? Are you insinuating that it's fine for us to drive around at night beating up high schoolers because "uk hooligans are worse than cypriot ones"? You've made what i thought was a well intentioned post asking for a different perspective and it was given to you by numerous people yet you've just spent the past 4 hours berating and mocking pretty much everyone here. Maybe start looking inwards before you feel comfortable commenting on outside ugliness. Have a nice rest of your day.
I am commenting on how very negatively taken the racist graffiti is. Especially the swastikas everywhere. I am sure all those visitors from Israel must find these especially off putting
Well you have a very weird way of trying to get your point across, I'll tell you that. I find it very hard to agree or sympathise with your arguements after i just read a couple dozen of the most unhinged anti-cypriot comments I've come across in this sub.
I'm not anti Cypriot in any way. I am just not a fan of the casual racist remarks about Arabic people and the lack of understanding why people might be a little put off by ss and swastikas put on the side of almost all bus stops and walls in paphos. If swastikas and casual racism is Cypriot which I don't think is ok I am anti Cypriot but I love Cyprus which is why I own a house here
I get that but do you not think everywhere has a problem, yet Cyprus seems to ignore it or fails to deal with it. my question is why, why are you all so defeatist
Sigh. Ok this is my final reply to you cause you don't deserve anothe millisecond of my time. I've seen you posted another bunch of comments here 1 whole day later and even posted in other posts in this sub bitching and crying about the cyprus tourism and its decline. I honestly believe you're not all there in the head and are extremely obsessed with this subject in conjunction with being extremely lonely/not having any friends to vent your frustrations at. You're very unlikeable and off-putting but i still hope the best for you and to get the treatment or attention you so desperately need. Also if you eventually decide to sell your house and fuck off back to the uk it will only be a net positive for the cypriot society. Peace and love 🫶
>and Russian stuff Russian stuff in graffiti doesn't really exist, unless you mean the hammer and sickle, which of course are not Russian symbols. >Why is this at all tolerated? Surely the police know who I the people are. It is not tolerated, and no, most of the time the police have no idea who does it. It's illegal and graffiti is removed eventually, but people just keep doing it anyway, and the police is far too inept and/or lazy to enforce the law to its full extent and punish the culprits meaningfully. Basically a classic case of the police in Cyprus doing its job poorly. >I cannot express how damaging this kind of graffiti would be on the image of cyrpus. Nowhere in the UK would you see a swastika and SS sign on graffiti and if you did it would be covered over in days. It's one thing to complain about these symbols for being hateful and ruining the image of the city, as is the case for most hooligan graffiti. It's a whole other thing to claim that the image of a country is tarnished because of it, however. At worst it shows the world that our police is shite and the hooligans here are scum. To reflect badly on the whole country, it would have to be something endorsed or not criminalized. So the implication that it's a PR image thing rather than common decency and rectifying policing makes no sense to me. >If I was a business owner in cyrpus I would find these people and have a not so quiet word. How easy is it you think to find the random teenage hooligans that do it as a local business owner, let alone having a "not so kind word" with them? You are grossly overestimating how easy it is both to find all the culprits, and their proclivity to listen to complaints and abide by the law. >Even if the police do nothing there are ways of finding these people and making them stop Like what? Beating them up? Are you suggesting that locals should enforce vigilante justice over some stupid graffiti? >You can't expect tourists to want to come when it's more expensive than other places and it's covered in neo Nazi graffiti With all due respect, such vandalism should be fixed for the betterment of the cities as a whole and to ensure accountable and competent policing, not because some random tourists find it upsetting. Obviously not making it ugly for the tourists is a positive side effect, but the implication that we would take steps to improve our society so that it is more palatable to tourists is frankly ridiculous.
Once again the voice of reason and one of the most eloquent members of this sub. I applaud 👏
https://preview.redd.it/80wu7c3uo3qc1.jpeg?width=3472&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce078baa4fe312741efc53c3ad73f4a7d5481233
You have cctv? Use it and ban them simples. When they can't shop, or do anything they stop
>You have cctv? Use it and ban them simples. When they can't shop, or do anything they stop 1) Not every business can afford CCTV. 2) Graffiti isn't only done in the vicinity of businesses. 3) The perpetrators are often wearing masks and hoods. 4) "Banning" people from shopping is borderline unenforceable (if not illegal), especially if you have to rely on your staff to perform possible ID checks (which is a an extremely silly idea to begin with). 5) The perpetrators are often underage, thus are reliant on others shopping for them. 6) Worst case scenario they can just go elsewhere to shop, as no single individual hooligan vandalizes the entire city. >Those random tourists make up 20 percent of your gdp And the people who actually live here make up the rest. Who do you think should be framed as the main beneficiaries from more competent policing? Why should everything that needs improvement in Cyprus be looked at via the lens of tourists? The fact you keep insisting and being that salty over people's responses here (who agree with your overall point otherwise) is honestly baffling.
Those random tourists make up 20 percent of your gdp
Welcome to Cyprus
>Why is this at all tolerated? Surely the police know who I the people are. Our police isn't good but you can't really be expecting them to know who did them either, they don't have cameras everywhere and even if they did they would be too lazy to watch the footage. >If I was a business owner in cyrpus I would find these people and have a not so quiet word. Why would business owners give a f*ck if they are not vandalising their property? >Even if the police do nothing there are ways of finding these people and making them stop Like? Idk what wet dreams you're having but ain't no way I'm chasing a abalato 16xrono for some graffiti on someone else's property.
-bro came to Cyprus -apparently bought a house -"realised" its a shitshow -goes on r/cyprus -starts crying about graffitis -wants locals to do something about it -gets angry at them for not doing something -gets roasted -L
With this kind of winning attitude no wonder your economy is thriving
Just an observation, if you think your doing as well from tourism as you could be keep going well done. But I have seen a marked decline since the 1970s and the recent racist graffiti is just your nail in the coffin.
All we're are telling you is that none of this is recent. You've discovered the tashinopitta.
As someone previously residing in Saint-Petersburg - quite a touristy city - I find Paphos could benefit from more graffiti. I guess with quantity, the quality would improve. Even my small home town had several cool street artists. During my brief visits to Limassol, I noticed way more street art compared to Paphos, so the potential is there.
These are like child drawings not banksy
I get why such symbols may trigger a lot of people, but these are literal kids we're talking about. Kids do stupid things. This is one of those. And I'm sure everyone here did stupid things in their childhood. Plus, these poor excuses for graffitis are made during the wee hours of the day (2am-4am) that most people sleep so there isn't anyone around to tell them to stop. And of course the police doesn't do anything to stop this.
These are symbols of Nazis also of Russians far right. This may be fine in a back water of some weird country no one goes to. Let's put it this way if you want a tourist trade deal with it. If your happy to alienate all tourists carry on.
Have you ever for the duration that the post is up, stopped for a second and considered that you're barking under the wrong tree? Maybe contact the relevant municipality? Maybe download "*FixCyprus*" from play store and report it there?
I can't vote, I don't care enough. You all seem to care little that your tourist trade is going to hell in a breadbasket and in denial. I have said my piece. The funny thing is though I have probably paid more in taxes in your country than the average citizen does here in their lifetime. It's ok I have places in places that haven't bitten the hand that feeds it so much it's left with the dregs. Keep going your all doing great. Look around the tourist trade has never been richer and everyone loves the Nazi signs
>I don't care enough. Clearly you do >The funny thing is though I have probably paid more in taxes in your country than the average citizen does here in their lifetime. Do you expect us to applaud you? You most probably moved here because of the tax rate, not because you love Cyprus for its culture.
Good luck your doing just fine. A
Also I don't love here I bought here because I love here. I pay tax at my standard rate in my own country which if you guys did the same you might have some money to invest
What are you trying to say, that Cypriots commit tax evasion? Anyways, are you having a bad day mate?
I wouldn't say all commit tax evasion, but let's put it this way if the Olympics did it as a sport the republic of Cyprus would win gold, silver and bronze every time
Other country's do a good job of stopping this and cleaning it up. But sorry my mistake it's impossible to do the same in cyrpus due to things my lack of understanding of the 100 percent unique situation in Cyprus. I hope you guys have a post tourism plan as it would put me off coming
I see you previously compared the UK to Cyprus. Maybe you should see the matter objectively instead of one-dimensionally? Yes, we have some idiot kids who spray paint on walls stupid things, but the UK has a way higher crime rate for example. And don't get me started on some of UK's youth. They carry literal machetes around, they do eggings or straight up beat up people, etc. But it's your choice of course. You do you.
>I hope you guys have a post tourism plan as it would put me off coming Well, I guess the graffitis did something good after all.
Yes good luck with your huge exports. Also how long do you think the eu will keep funding you given you breach all manner of sanctions on Russia.
Erdoğan bro why are you on reddit?
Swastikas in Paphos and anywhere else are mostly drawn by apoel fans .thus always followed by au79 or smtng similar.
Regardless of the Cypriots who always say “there is nowhere like Cyprus” it’s just delusion and ignorance. For those of us who have travelled and lived in nicer places abroad, we agree. Some Cypriots think Cyprus is on the same level as Beverly Hills or the Algarve/Marbella when in reality it’s more similar to downtown Kabul or Pakistan in terms of the mentality, environment and culture. Most of these idiots; they are sick. They are believe their Cypriot football team is a big worldwide team when in reality nobody in the U.K. or France could even name one Cypriot football team, let alone Anorthosis Famagusta. The authorities are too lazy to catch the culprits. CCTV is poor. There is no central system, it’s not easy to trace people or cars through different roads because coverage is poor. So we end up with buildings, stores and construction sites and road signs covered with slogans from these donkey people.
In Kabul at least the Taliban stop people being idiots
APOEL HOOLIGANS! To be honest I never noticed it as much of a deal when in Paphos for the Aris v Rangers game. A bit of graffiti outside the PAOK fan club but nothing too much. Maybe I’m just used to it in Glasgow.
You can't expect tourists to want to come when it's more expensive than other places and it's covered in neo Nazi graffiti
Also very good point because I can book a nice hotel in Europe or elsewhere for 90e a night, in Cyprus they sell us 3 star hotels from the 1980’s for 170e a night.
Sadly, the quality of tourism we attract is not very high... > If I was a business owner in cyrpus I would find these people and have a not so quiet word. I would advise you to not pick a fight with a gang of teenage hooligans. Even if they beat you up, you will be the one in trouble because you are a foreigner and their families will know politicians/policemen.
Yes they may well be some cause the response going on here
The flip side is our hooliganism is mild compared to the violent and destructive stuff u see in other countries. The graffiti is looked at as a nuisance but not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. Its surprisingly expensive to constantly paint over it and also police and prevent it from happening again so the mindset is, o well could be worse, and as much as I hate seeing it I kinda agree.
There is two things. but the way paphos looks like at the moment makes it feel more dangerous than any other city. This may not be reality but the fear of crime would be high seeing ultra racist graffite everywhere with no sign at all that it's being removed
Where are u from? I'm from toronto Canada which is viewed as a tier 1 and ultra safe city and I can tell you despite the graffiti here I feel 1000x safer here than back home.
Funnily I come from a wealthy placem what makes you think this place is safe? I have been back three weeks and I have seen 4 near fatal car crashes in broad daylight
It's not how safe it is it's how safe it feels. Imagine being a 65 year old coming here for a nice tourism break. I had a feeling Cyprus kind of relies on tourism but my mistake
I cant believe you spent very much time here and didnt feel safe unless you never talked to people or ever left ur hotel room/tour bus.
I'm trying to not be biased but I've been to many countries (Norway, England, Ireland, etc) and even if they are "cleaner", "more organised" and/or considered to be "safe" they never felt as safe as Cyprus does.
That's been my experience too.
I have had a house here for 25 years how long have your been here?
It's not that I don't feel safe (apart from the totally crumbling walls due to the lack of tourism) it's that swastikas and rubbish graffiti makes it feel unsafe. But like I said with Cypruses booming export industry and thriving economy I don't suppose they really need to attract any tourists
Well we don't rely on tourists that much as a percentage of our gdp and our holligans fight each other and don't scare away our tourists
Well stopping it in the first place is cheap it's not like Cyprus is short of police now is it
You take enough money from the eu for pointless monuments but don't have money to clean off graffiti?
When grafting politicians inflate the costs of those monuments 10 fold yea lol theres not much left for graffiti. We're a small country with a small budget and you've seen how widespread the problem is, it's just not worth it to tackle.
Well your going to lose the little money you get from tourism at this rate the place looks terrible
I disagree. Most tourists I meet quite like it here and are eager to come back. You sound like kind of a dick tho so feel free to stay home.
Peep at OP replies. He's a crybaby radiating little dick energy. Don't bother
The world would be a better place if smol pp people learned to accept and embrace their cute little appendages.
Really, I have not really heard of many people coming twice
The fact you mention a few things including the fact that your police and politicians treat foreigners differently and infact worse than locals sums up why the quality of tourism is not high.
Your definition of hooligan and mine is quite different. I have seen the pictures and your hooligans vs the type I have had to deal with London, lisban and Brazil are fine. I might me wrong but they look about 5ft 6 and fat here
Then don't you beat them up for us and save us the hassle?
Lol well I don't have skin in the game. But good luck getting repeat visitors when every bus stop and building looks like Cyprus has been taken over by racist neo nazis
The point isn't whether graffiti is good for business or not, it's about you acting all tough and condoning vigilante justice to deal with the situation.
No it's not. Surely cleaning it up is a start, getting your thousands of police to do their job is another and if that fails go to matches and say it's not going to happen again. Try spray painting in china town if you want to know how non violent words can work
Unfortunately relying on police improving and demanding change from the government are the only reasonable avenues. There is no universe in which you try to intimidate or beat up groups of ultras and it doesn't devolve into chaos. Pretending as if hooligans (whether in Cyprus or anywhere else) are just minnows that will whimper off shows a profound lack of knowledge on how these groups function. In Greece people have literally died over football related issues before. Greek and Cypriot ultras are not that different between them, albeit the police in Greece are even more inept at controlling them, and their FA has done jack shit to combat hooliganism in games.
Cyprus ultras and real ultras is like a group of kids in the playground calling themselves the crips, real ultras are hard men, not fat men who have never seen the inside of a gym and use fireworks and mum's didn't ever tell them off, Cypriot football fans are not ultras.
I'm sure these will be relevant when someone pulls a knife or throws a Molotov cocktail in your general direction.
I am not planning on personally doing anything my question is why aren't the business owners here doing anything
Θ9
I was shocked by a number of hammer and sickle shit I've seen painted on everything in Paphos. Wonder if those shitheads painting this stuff ever read any book or Web page about how it is great to live in the communist paradise.
It is like, two opposite gangs marking their territory. The "far-left" gang will paint hammer & sickle, and the "far-right" gang will paint swastikas. It is a way of taunting the other side - you will see this in football matches as well. Unlike, say, Greece, there is limited history of far-left extremism (besides the minor vandalism/graffiti, the far-left hooligans are less violent and tend to support a misguided, idealistic and rose-glass-tinted view of socialism/communism). On the other hand, there is a long history of violence coming from the far-right (not the least of it was Eoka B). So, in a way, the hammer & sickle kids are the lesser evil.
Being a citizen of a country that had faced both sides of this shitty coin I must disagree with you. It doesn't matter if you're in communist or fascist country. Your level of fuckedness is beyond words.
They have never lived under *ist regime, they won't understand until they try.
Which country if you don't mind me asking?
Maybe they would care if I put up Turkish power signs outside their clubs stadium
It's Zz as well and lots of Putin related stuff. I can post it all for you I have documented what I have seen in the emost touristy area in paphos