NICOSIA (AFP) - Cypriot police have confiscated thousands of pornographic magazines, videos and DVDs in a campaign to stamp out the public display of explicit sexual material in shops, authorities said yesterday.

Sellers of pornographic material were given until last Monday, December 27 to clean up their act or face the consequences. A sweep of the southwestern coastal town of Limassol on Wednesday and yeaterday netted thousands of offending DVDs and video tapes. “Most people are charged in writing and asked to appear in court at a later date, but what happened in Limassol applies to all towns,” police spokesman Demetris Demetriou told AFP.

Kiosk owners have complained about the police’s new draconian attitude, saying it will destroy business and end up being counterproductive as people can just download porn from the Internet.