Paphos hotel owner threatens to jump off the roof

A hotel owner in Paphos climbed on the rooftop of his establishment on Tuesday morning, threatening to jump unless city workers backed away from carrying out revitalization work.

According to local media, a businessman who owns and runs a small hotel business in Paphos climbed on the rooftop of his establishment threatening to jump off in case the city went ahead with its scheduled construction work in the area.

The hotel owner, who had disputes with the city over permits and ordinance violations in the last two years, said he would jump off the roof in case municipality officials did not suspend plans to begin operations.

He also argued that construction outside his two-storey hotel would be economically devastating and threaten the survival of his business.

City officials reportedly said they would not back down and were ready to carry out maintenance work unless a court order instructed them to do otherwise.

Police were reportedly on site while it was not clear if they were taking part in any negotiations.

A construction project in the area is part of a larger effort to revitalize sections of the city, including clearing and connecting areas between the commercial centre and the local Turkish Cypriot borough.