ORGANISED by the Cyprus Property Action Group, CPAG, and supported by KSIA, the Cyprus Land and Property Owners Association, some 300 demonstrators gathered at the Paliomonastiro municipal park at Peyia demanding government action to resolve the numerous Title Deed problems.
The police, including the local inspector and divisional commander, were in attendance along with three rather large Cypriot gentlemen who preferred to remain anonymous.
Some of the demonstrators, like ‘Pete’, are at risk of losing their homes because the law allows developers to mortgage the land on which they are building. His property developer collapsed, owing the bank tens of thousands of Euros. Pete has spoken with the bank who confirmed it can sell his home to recover the debt.
Others are victims of the ‘Immovable Property Tax’ scam. This is a massive fraud in which unscrupulous property developers extort money from buyers using the threat of withholding Title Deeds to elicit payment. Claiming that this money is used to pay Immovable Property Tax, it is estimated that millions of Euros have been pocketed by the developers over the years, while only a small amount has ended up in state coffers.
CPAG spokesman Denis O’Hare thanked the demonstrators and said that there would be more opportunities for people to see President Christofias in the future.
President of KSIA, George Strovolides, also addressed the demonstrators saying that the government must take action to resolve the problems.
After the demonstration CPAG spokesman Denis O’Hare said: “There will be more opportunities to see President Christofias; he needs to understand that we are not going to go away. We have been forced into this type of action because he hasn’t replied to any of our letters, including a request for a Presidential Review into why the Police refused assistance to buyers who have been defrauded“.
TV report by livtv
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywsc9KLpyZQ&w=470&rel=0]
Video added Sunday 7th June.
Cyprus has free speech?
Police requested that banners reading “Shame on you Mr. President” were taken down as they were ‘disrespectful’ to President Christofias.
They also asked a man carrying a banner that read “Where are you Mr. President? Got no balls? We’ve got no Title Deeds!!!” to take it down as this too was ‘disrespectful’.
