Man goes ballistic at Citizen Service Center

Staff at a Nicosia Citizen Service Centre went on an hour-long work stoppage to protest lack of security measures, following an incident where a disgruntled customer punched the cashier’s window screen to express his anger.

According to media reports, a man went to the CSC on Makariou Avenue in Nicosia on Thursday to attempt to get a driver’s license for his wife. But when staff told him he needed to show an authorization document signed by his wife, he reported began to lose his calm.

The customer exited the building and minutes later came back with an authorization document bearing his wife’s signature, but staff did not believe the signature was authentic and refused to process the request.

At that point, the man reportedly clinched his fists and banged on the teller’s window screen, raising his voice and going ballistic. Reports also said he injured his hands during the incident.

Staff at the CSC staged an hour strike on Friday morning at 8am to call attention to the lack of security measures at their workplace throughout the island.

CSC centres have been mounting efforts to protest a number of changes, including the shutting down of other agencies that they say resulted to a heavier workload for their staff.

Back in July, a general CSC strike was averted at the last minute after some interim solutions were discussed regarding the application process for Minimum Income Guaranteed.

Staff maintained that they were simply “worn out” due to dealing with many complicated cases. They said they were swamped with MIG welfare recipients and announced they would receive application forms but wouldn’t answer MIG questions.