Repeated social media posts by women claiming to have been physically harassed by two men in Limassol have been circulating since the weekend. Three women described the alleged assaults to the Cyprus Mail on Tuesday.

Three women say they were assaulted in the Amathus area, near the Four Seasons hotel – located in one of Limassol’s main tourist areas.

Two of the cases occurred between 8pm and 9pm. In the third case, a woman reported being assaulted in broad daylight, at 3pm.

“I was with my friend, wearing sports clothes [when] two men, around 1.70 tall, Middle Eastern looking, were standing among the ruins (…) we walked past them, and they started following us,” one woman told the Cyprus Mail.

She said the attack occurred on Sunday, October 19 at 3pm, when and her friend were walking on Amathus hill.

Soon after, one of the men attacked her from behind and grabbed her hair, making it impossible for her to defend herself. The men only let go of her when her friend picked up a rock to help her, the woman, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said.

“My friend chased after them to make sure they left, while I called the police,” she added. “The police took around 30 minutes to arrive – which sadly shows the state of our police right now.”

Police told the Cyprus Mail on Tuesday afternoon, so far, three complaints regarding similar incidents have been reported to them, one on October 14, a second one regarding an alleged assault on October 18 and a third one concerning an incident on October 19.

“We believe it’s two men, who we are currently trying to identify,” police said.

According to testimonies, the men were between 20 and 23 years old and around 170cm tall and Arabic-speaking.

One of them, police said, had a beard and short hair, the other was reported to have brown hair.

Two of the women told the Cyprus Mail that they were assaulted by a man with said features, however, said they estimated him to be in his mid 30s.

The first woman said that, based on what had happened, she thought it was probably the same men who had supposedly attacked another woman a few days earlier near the Four Seasons, adding that the police had confirmed her suspicion that it was likely the same two men.

Another woman told the Cyprus Mail she was harassed by two men on Tuesday, October 14.

She said she takes daily walks in the area and was on her way home when she realised she was being followed by a man.

“While returning from my walk, I encountered two men of Middle Eastern appearance on the last bridge, towards the Four Seasons hotel. One of them made a comment as they passed by, but I ignored it as I was on my phone,” she told the Cyprus Mail.

She said she realised she was being followed by one of the men after hearing his footsteps and heavy breathing behind her.

“When I turned around, I saw him raising his hands towards my neck and apparently trying to grab me by the hair,” she said.

The woman, who also asked not to be named, said she managed to escape without the suspect touching her after she started screaming and running towards the hotel.

She then saw another woman running in her direction, so she stopped her and warned her about the men.

“The area was very dark, as there are no streetlights, which in itself is unsafe and should be addressed by the municipality,” she added.

She added that she was initially hesitant to share her story publicly as the thought it was an isolated incident, but changed her mind after seeing a Facebook post of a girl who reported having been attacked and nearly raped in the same area.

“Yesterday I was informed that two more girls were attacked,” she said.

The woman has since reported the incident to the police, but said she had not received further information on the investigations.

A third woman turned to the Cyprus Mail to report on a similar accident which allegedly happened on July 6.

She describes walking near the Amathus hotel at night and being on a video call with her mom when suddenly her battery died.

“A few moments later, I noticed a guy walking in front of me with his phone playing an Arabic video and it made me a bit uneasy,” she said, an Arabic native speaker herself.

She then stopped for a bit to keep some distance.

“I waited for about five minutes (…) to my surprise I caught up with him again, he must have stopped somewhere, almost as if he was waiting for me,” she said.

She describes stopping a few times afterwards, with the man simultaneously interrupting his walk. At some point, she managed to get out of his sight, hiding at a nearby playground, from where she said she could see him looking around, possibly for her.

She eventually made it home safe and did not report the case to the police, however, turned to the Cyprus Mail after seeing similarities to the other cases and said she now considered filing a complaint to the police.

Police did not wish to comment further on the actions being taken to avoid endangering the success of the operations.

Similar experiences have been shared on social media by several other women. However, it is currently unclear how many of these are simply reposts of stories or real incidents that actually happened.