Probe ordered into legality of Thessaloniki university sit-in

A Thessaloniki prosecutor on Thursday ordered an investigation to determine whether members of student associations conducting a sit-in at the administrative faculty of the northern port city’s Aristotle University should be charged with disturbing the peace.

Court of first instance prosecutor Syrmo Kakali asked police to conduct the probe after the university’s rector, Pericles Mitkas, sought a judicial intervention, complaining that the sit-in was hampering the smooth operation of the institution.

The protesters oppose a government initiative that would allow universities to scrub from their registers the so-called “eternal students” who take longer than 11 years to complete courses that should run to a maximum of five years.