Students in Athens protested against police patrols on university campuses.
The occasion for the student protests was the introduction of police patrols on university campuses.
Students marched in Athens under the slogans “No policemen on university campuses!”.
The measures adopted by the Greek authorities include special police patrols, which, according to the government, will ensure security on the territory of higher education institutions, where the activity of left-wing groups often provokes violence. However, students and rectors object to this, arguing that the measure abolishes the independent extraterritoriality status of universities, under which police are not allowed to appear there without a ruling from the Rectors’ Councils.
Recall that from 7 November 2020, Greece announced a pass-through movement regime. Schools and kindergartens have been switched to remote operation.
The Greek government has tightened trade restrictions for the period from 3 to 10 January, allegedly to allow junior schools to open more safely on 11 January. Junior schools and kindergartens were opened on 11 January and retailers reopened on 18 January. Secondary schools started operating on February 1. Lyceums (high schools) also opened from February 1, except in regions with high risk of coronavirus.
As Nikos Sipsas, a member of the coronavirus committee at the Greek Ministry of Health, noted earlier, epidemiologists are “seeing” on their “radars” with a delay of 15 days. On 10 January, Exadactilos said that in his opinion, “it is more important to keep jobs and household income than to return children to their natural environment a week earlier”.