Lawlessness strikes again on campus

Six people were arrested on Wednesday in a police operation at the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) in the center of the capital as they tried to tear down a wall inside the campus.

The Hellenic Police (ELAS) released footage of the arrests on its official YouTube channel. All of those arrested were students at the school, while three of them have been prosecuted in the past.

Meanwhile, police were collecting evidence that could lead to the identification of the hooded people who on Tuesday afternoon beat up a professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business. In his official testimony from Evangelismos Hospital, where he went on Tuesday night as a precaution, the professor said the attack involved 15 people who had their faces covered with hoods. He added that they were divided into two groups and entered the amphitheater from different entrances in order to surround him. 

The perpetrators initially attacked him verbally, and then punched and kicked his head and body. According to his testimony, the group who carried out the attack included both men and women. The incident took place while the professor was giving a lecture with at least 100 students in the amphitheater. The students reacted, eventually forcing the perpetrators to leave.

Police Wednesday also collected testimonies from students who were eyewitnesses to the attack, as well as from university staff.

They will also search for material from security cameras and mobile network antennae.

Police officials have speculated that the perpetrators belong to anarchist/anti-establishment circles and that some could be university students.

The working assumption is that the attack came in response to press reports that made extensive reference to court cases involving the professor, who is being prosecuted for usury and extortion after an indictment was filed against him by a former university colleague.