One-time Disy MP Evgenios Hamboullas sparked outrage on Friday after he urged people in Famagusta (a city on the east coast Cyprus) to attack and beat up foreign activists fighting the illegal hunting of songbirds.
His outburst came after a statement by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (Cabs) said 29 of its volunteers had collected 2,596 limesticks and 53 nets in the district, one of two main hotspots for bird trapping, a lucrative business that fetches millions to poachers.
In a rant on his Facebook page Hamboullas accused the authorities of treason and urged residents to attack the activists.
“They are not aktivists, they are shit ruffians!! Break their bones wherever you find them and if you can’t, call me and I will help,” said Hamboullas.
The remark sparked outrage elsewhere on the island with people calling on Disy chief Averof Neophytou to oust Hamboullas from the party.
“It was an unacceptable post. There is no excuse. He ought to withdraw and apologise in public,” Neophytou said on Twitter.
Hamboullas has since removed the post.
This was not the first time Hamboullas caused a stir regarding the issue.
While in parliament in January 2016, he had posted a photo on social media of himself at a dinner table with a platter of songbirds.
MP Hamboullas seen here enjoying ambelopoulia
He claimed he did it because he supported legalisation of hunting blackcaps, or ambelopoulia as they are known locally, albeit not with limesticks and nets, as is the current practice.
The attorney-general chose not to press charges at the time because putting together a criminal against a sitting MP for eating illegal game was difficult.
My comment: In no other country in the European Union does poaching go to such an extent. 4,000 poachers (at 1,120,489 island inhabitants) are said to have contributed to the cruel killing last year and more than 2 million birds were killed.
And this is how the serial killers act: Rods are smeared with an odorless and colorless glue and placed on attractive -for the birds- landing sites; the birds stick to it and are at the mercy of their tormentors – the fishing method was already used in the Stone Age.
And in no other country are the authorities so powerless and inactive. The captured birds have become a big business for catchers, butchers and restaurats. The police pushes more than one eye – glue rods and nets are considered at best as a trivial offense, if not a venerable tradition!
The illegal hunters earn about 15 million euros annually – of course, black. The estimate is from the year 2010 and should not have changed downwards.
“The illegal activities are open and more often supported by high-ranking politicians and administrative employees,” says a report about “the Bird Mafia in Cyprus”. https://www.spektrum.de/news/vogelfang-auf-zypern/1398790
We believe that immediately! if the kickback Hamboullas from the affair comes unpunished only with the deletion of a line in his Facebook page, then we have again learned something from corruption in politics.
On the other hand, they are all directly or indirectly supported by a society of lackeys. A population that lets such murders happen in front of their eyes and does so with the justification, there is always something more important in life than the murder and suffering of other beings.
My best regards, Venus
World Animals Voice 