Elite officers primed to tackle social unrest
As fears grow about rising social tensions amid a worsening economic situation, Alternate Citizens’ Protection Minister Yiannis Panousis on Tuesday called on police officers to remain “strongly united during these difficult moments for our country.”
Addressing a group of 21 new recruits to the police force’s elite squad (EKAM) during a ceremony on the grounds of the former Olympic Firing Range in Markopoulo, east of Athens, Panousis asked them to “safeguard the Constitution and the country from the risks that have arisen from our own mistakes.”
The recruits, who were selected from a group of 289 police officers, have undergone two months of special training and are expected to be at the forefront of efforts to keep the peace in the event that social tensions develop into widespread unrest.
The Greek Police has two plans, code-named Polyderki and Nemesis, that are to be enforced when and if authorities deem them necessary. Polyderki was drafted ahead of the Athens 2004 Olympics, when a huge security operation was mounted in Greece, and was updated last year in order to take into account the possible repercussions of the country’s worsening economic and social situation.
