Panousis: Police operation at Athens University did not violate asylum
Alternate Minister for Civil Protection Yiannis Panousis on Saturday defended the police operation to end an occupation of the Athens University administrative building, in statement to the Greek television channel Mega.
He denied that this had violated university asylum and said that those responsible for the sit-in had wanted to present themselves as "heroes" by ending the occupation after Parliament had passed a law for the abolition of Type C maximum security prisons.
Commenting on criticism voiced by ruling SYRIZA MP Vangelis Diamantopoulos over the police operation, Panousis said there was "no point engaging in this discussion" and called on those disagreeing with him to clarify what they meant by a "leftist police and leftist justice".
He repeated his position that the police cannot solve social and political issues that the State has failed to deal with, citing as an example the problem at Skouries, Halkidiki and the community-dividing controversy surrounding the gold-mining operations in the area.
Panousis said that he had called Production Reconstruction Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis about the specific issue, asking him to find a solution.
The minister said that the police will insist on tactics of 'low-key' policing but pointed out that once the MAT riot police van and police presence in the troubled Exarhia district were removed, various gangs had stepped in to take control of the area.
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