14.09.2022
William A. Peter, an international student, was beaten by a group of assailants in the City Center area of the capital Nicosia on 11/09/22. William A. Peter, a university student who had no involvement in an accident in the Gonyeli area a few days ago was severely beaten by a group of assailants, who were presumed to be friends of the people who caused the accident, was hospitalized.
Ignoring the increasing racist and xenophobic attitudes in Northern Cyprus, which are defined as fear, hatred and prejudice against foreigners, has paved the way for and even caused an increase in these environments of violence. These racist and xenophobic attitudes are at the root of this incident experienced by an innocent student today.
With the increasing racist and xenophobic violence in Northern Cyprus, where thousands of students come every year to study at university, the basic human right to live safely is infringed and this creates an unsafe environment. Especially the silence of the media, police and state authorities on this incident is seen as a reflection of the prejudices of a racist and xenophobic structure.
The fact that this incident is portrayed as a street fight in the media, and that this unjust and racist attack is not covered in any way, paves the way for racist attitudes to increase and violations in the implementation of justice to occur.
In the light of what we watched in the video and the information we received, it appears that the attack was premeditated and planned. We were informed that the group who carried out the attack were children under the age of 18 who were dragged into crime, and taxi drivers shared posts targeting this student and offering a cash reward. The saddest part of the incident is that people who are still children are used in racist attacks and encouraged to commit crimes. The question is what will be done about such premeditated attacks and plans?
We, as MHD, VOIS and the Liberian Student Union, would like to inform you that we expect the state and its mechanisms to do what needs to be done about the incident as soon as possible and that we will follow up on the issue, we are in touch with the police regarding it and we will do our best to offer all kinds of support to the student, and we will be releasing updates on the matter as possible.
