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Greece: Court allows campus police at universities

2022-05-11T14:31:19.916Z


The fact that police officers are not allowed to enter universities is a special feature in Greece - still. The Supreme Court has now overturned the almost 50-year-old regulation.


Enlarge image

Protests against the new Greek higher education law (in January 2021)

Photo: Aristidis Vafeiadakis / dpa

The establishment of a so-called campus police at Greek colleges and universities does not violate academic freedom.

This also does not affect the self-government of the universities.

The Greek Supreme Court decided on Wednesday.

The reason for this was a law that the conservative government under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis passed last year.

The reasoning at the time: crime and anarchy on the university campuses had increased to such an extent that many students no longer dared to go into the lecture halls.

The Technical University of Athens in particular has been used by autonomists, anarchists and criminals for decades as a retreat and starting point for riots.

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The police were previously forbidden from entering the universities: With their student uprising in 1973, the students heralded the fall of the Greek military dictatorship 49 years ago.

The protest was bloodily suppressed at the time, and dozens of young people lost their lives.

Later, the university campuses were therefore declared police-free places.

Legal vacuum at the university

However, the complaints have recently increased significantly.

The drug trade on campus flourished, autonomists are said to have beaten up professors, prevented fellow students from entering and damaged buildings.

In the end, many students no longer dared to go to the campus.

Families who could afford it were also happy to send their offspring abroad to study.

The university police are necessary to ensure the protection of public safety, the court now argued.

This is reported by the Greek daily »Kathimerini«.

The deployment of the special troops also serves to safeguard academic freedom.

When and to what extent the police should actually be deployed remained open.

After the law was passed, student protests erupted across the country.

After the court's decision, riots could break out again.

him/dpa

Source: spiegel

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