Police interrupted a Maronite church service on Saturday which was being held at the recently re-opened St. Antonis Chapel in Degirmenlik (Kythrea), ‘Kibris Postasi’ reports.
Many Maronite Cypriots were attending the service which was interrupted by the police. According to the police the service was held without “permission from the Foreign Ministry” and that they would not let the service to be completed.
According to news agencies, Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus Youssef Soueif (above) requested to be allowed to continue the service, however the police insisted that the service should stop.
Speaking to press the Archbishop said, “We hold religious ceremonies in our village located in north Cyprus all the time; we didn’t know we had to get a new permission for this particular service. So we don’t have a special permission as we didn’t know we needed one.”
According to reports the Archbishop pleaded with the police to show some respect and allow the service to continue as it would be finished in ten minutes
However, church goers were disappointed by the police’s attitude who did not respond to Archbishop’s plea to be able to complete the service.
