Public safety

Kyriaki’s father requests the lifting of communications which involved police officers before and after the crime

For the first time in years, there is concern in the Greek diaspora, among many of its members in Washington at least, about political developments in Greece. It is not driven by disappointment or frustration but, rather, the need for answers.

Sometimes I wish that I lived in a country somewhere between my native Greece and the USA where I live. By between I don't mean geographically but rather a country whose laws, social mores etc were somewhere between the two. Maybe, I like to dream, such a country would combine the best of both Greece and US without any of the negatives.

Four arrests have been made - The operation involves officers of the riot police, the riot police and the security police

Violent clashes erupted at the Agricultural University of Athens in the Votanikos district in the first hours of Sunday, resulting in the torching of two buses and a car.

According to state-run broadcaster ERT, around 1:00 a.m., 40 individuals attending a concert at the university took to Athens Avenue, setting fires and hurling stones at passing vehicles.

An armed man opened fire at the headquarters of a shipping company in the suburb of Glyfada, south of Athens, resulting in the deaths of at least two people and the injury of one more, according to initial reports on Monday.

Some time ago, during his previous term in office, the prime minister had called a meeting of ministers, state officials and university rectors to discuss the issue of security at public universities. The scheme for a campus police force was very much "alive" at the time; it was, in fact, one of ruling New Democracy's key policy announcements.

The issue of security at universities has once again come to the fore, following the outrages of the last few days, with hooded assailants entering the University of Athens and spreading fear with threats of violence in student assemblies. 

Police made over a thousand arrests across the country over the four-day period in the run up to and including New Year's Day.

From December 29 to January 1, officers conducted checks on over 70,000 people and over 53,500 vehicles, a police statement said.

While 2,500 people were brought in to police stations, 1,079 were arrested for various offenses.

Police have apprehended a 36-year-old suspect and identified two additional individuals, aged 28 and 32, in connection with discharging a firearm into the air following a raid at a Roma camp in Megara, west of Athens.