Special university police force deployed but barely seen

AFP 04 October 2022

Over a year after it was conceived as a ground-breaking response to Greece’s notoriously unruly universities, a special campus police force has officially deployed – to underwhelming results, reports AFP.

The squad of 1,000 officers was deployed in September to four out of Greece’s more than 20 university campuses in Athens and second city Thessaloniki, all of which were chosen for having the highest instances of drug trading and petty crime. Greek universities are chronically underfunded and notoriously disrupted by strikes, sit-ins and violence against students and staff.

“We haven’t seen them,” deadpanned one professor at Athens Polytechnic. Armed only with batons, the freshly trained university protection squads (OPPI) have been deployed sparingly – and under the protection of seasoned riot police – following protests from outraged student groups.
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