Kyriakos Mitsotakis, President of Greece’s major opposition party, New Democracy (ND), blasted the Greek government for failing to address rampant crime on University campuses. Mr Mitsotakis visited the University of Athens and met with the Dean and professors on matters concerning campus security. Posting later on Facebook, Mitsotakis said: “Unfortunately, every day, male and female University students, as well as university workers, face unprecedented conditions due to general lawlessness prevailing. From petty theft and burglaries to life-threatening incidents, such as the recent stabbing of a student at Zogrtafou campus.”
He went on to accuse the government of SYRIZA of being incompetent of protecting the academic community due to its ideology. “The SYRIZA government is unable and does not want to protect the academic community”, he stated, adding that this became apparent from the law introduced by Education Minister Kostas Gavroglou that restored in a completely unconstrained manner the asylum, turning universities into dens of lawlessness.

The leader of ND labelled the conditions at the universities “shameful”, vowing that when his party took office it would introduce legislation changing the legal framework related to university asylum to clarify any ambiguities regarding the permission of police to immediately intervene in cases of criminal offences.