Police in Parekklisia were kept busy on Thursday after a gang of youths went on the rampage at the local primary school in the village.
According to nearby residents, around ten youths – all wearing hoods and brandishing clubs and sticks – assembled in the school yard before then proceeding to set off loud fireworks, torch rubbish bins and vandalise other school properties.
The gang fled on foot as soon as police officers arrived. School administrators later discovered that the gang had also vandalised signs, broke into nine classrooms, vandalised phone booths, destroyed lights, school benches and also uprooted ten young trees.
One volatile firework had also caused damage to a nearby house that was owned by a 30-year-old man.
“We suspect these acts of vandalism to be the work of youths and not a criminal organisation,” Limassol CID Chief Yiannis Sotriades told Phileleftheros.
Meanwhile, a boy of 16 – who was discovered with 200 firecrackers in possession – has been arrested in connection with the vandalism.
Police all across the island are always on high alert in the build-up to Easter with many youths seeking to either resort to acts of vandalism or set off bonfires before Easter Saturday.
Cyprus Weekly