Riot police entered and ended a “sit-in” occupation of the tertiary law school in the northeast border city of Komotini on Monday afternoon, with 18 individuals detained and taken to a local precinct.
A wave of “sit-ins” and other protests have erupted on several campuses across the country over the recent period, as more militant left-wing students’ groupings and self-styled anarchists stepped up opposition to a pending draft law allowing for the recognition of non-state universities operating in Greece.
In Monday’s instance, the student grouping affiliated with the Communist Party (KKE) charged that riot police “roughed up” students in evacuating the very briefly occupied building.
Conversely, police in Komotini said they were summoned to university grounds by the school’s administration because protestors were blocking staff members and roughly 400 students from taking end-of-the-semester exams.
The occupation was ended and students sat for the exams, according to reports.
Protestors responded by saying a “general assembly” of students decided by a majority – around 150 individuals present at the assembly – to proceed with the occupation of the law school.
In a related development, another major rally is set for Thursday in downtown Athens against the draft legislation being prepared by the Mitsotakis government – one the more prominent campaign pledges by ruling New Democracy (ND) party in repeated elections and an iconic reform for the country’s more liberal-minded voters.
