Alternate Minister for Civil Protection Yiannis Panousis stressed on Saturday that yesterday’s police operation to end the occupation of the Athens University administrative building by anti-state militants did not violate university asylum.

Talking to Greek television channel Mega, he replied to criticism voiced by SYRIZA MP Vangelis Diamantopoulos over the police operation by saying that there was “no point engaging in this discussion.” Moreover, he stressed 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 gold-mining operations in the area.

Background:

Police forces charged into the university administration building (Propylea) on Panepistimiou avenue in downtown Athens on Friday morning, after 19 days of occupation by anti-state militants.

Of the people arrested, 13 were Greek nationals and one was a Cypriot woman, while “prize catch” was fugitive Polykarpos Georgiadis, a convicted accessory in a kidnap for ransom case in 2008. He was convicted in that case.