british colonial policies also promoted ethnic polarisation. the british, many believe, applied the principle of "divide and rule", setting the two groups against each other to prevent combined action against colonial rule. for example, when greek cypriots rebelled in the 1950s, the colonial office expanded the size of the auxiliary police and in september 1955, established the special mobile reserve which was made up exclusively of turkish cypriots, to crush eoka. this and similar practices contributed to inter-communal animosity.