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On Monday, a student protesting outside the University of Thessaloniki was reportedly tear-gassed while half-naked, dragged, and physically abused in public for rallying against the newly-enacted campus security law. This took place in northern Greece, where 31 university students rallying against the new law were arrested. Arrests were made under the gathering ban introduced as a result of the pandemic. They were then fined 300 euros each.
The new law, which was passed in February of this year, allows police officers to be present on campus and arrest students where necessary. The legislation was proposed by the right-leaning party New Democracy, aiming to reform Greece's education system. The “university police” were introduced to guard the campus and a disciplinary council is set up to suspend or expel students that are “troublemakers”.
Prior to the enactment, thousands of professors lobbied to withdraw the bill. The Oxford Local Association of the University and College Union (UCU) stood in solidarity with Greek professors. The association’s press release stated that there are more important issues to be discussing, such as the “chronic underfunding” of universities.
On Tuesday, more than 5,000 university students protested against the new campus security law by gathering outside a courthouse.
In early February of this year, Greek education minister Niki Keramus came to the government's defence for enacting this controversial law. She argued that this law is proper and apt, because the campus is currently lawless and there are security issues that have resulted in Greek students opting to study abroad rather than in their home country.
Reporter Alexandra Tanka recalls seeing several students being beaten up on Monday, and claims they were forced to spend a night in jail. She knows of one girl who was hospitalised. Nikos Markatos, former dean of the National Technical University of Athens, told radio station Real FM that police were “jumping on pavements with their motorbikes”, and mentioned that another student was hit by a police officer with a fire extinguisher, which broke his chin bone and a few of his teeth. He too was sent to hospital.
Many Greeks are desperately looking for national mainstream media to cover this sudden surge of conflict. As reported in Keep Talking Greece, “When similar scenes come from neighboring Turkey, Greek Mainstream media are aghast about the brutality of Erdogan’s regime.” Certain activists are perplexed about the lack of awareness.
Universities in Greece are generally seen as a symbol of national democracy. The Athens Polytechnic Uprising in 1973 resulted in the topple of the military regime. It was during these demonstrations that 21-year-old student Maria Damanaki famously screamed the phrase “Polytechneio here! Polytechneio here! This is the radio station of the free, fighting students, of the free, fighting Greeks!” During the 1973 protest, several students who protested against the country’s right wing military dictatorship were murdered by military and police officers at their university.
On-campus police brutality was again recorded in 2018, when a professor was beaten for commenting on anti-authoritarian graffiti. The university students managed to collect 1400 signatures on a petition, which called to end violence in universities.
In late 2019, Greek activists warned of an increase in police brutality and human rights violations. Eirini Gaitanou, the Greek Amnesty International campaign coordinator, said to The Guardian: “There has been a sharp rise in such incidents in recent months and it is clear they are not isolated but reflect systemic problems in the Greek police with regards to violence and endemic impunity.”
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