Prosecutor orders police probe into complaint by uni students
A Thessaloniki prosecutor has ordered a police investigation into allegations made by students at the northern port city’s Aristotle University of widespread crime on campus.
The claims were made in a letter of complaint signed by 471 students and addressed to the university’s dean and the rector of the School of Engineering, where the problem of crime in apparently most acute.
In it, the students claimed to feel unsafe and vulnerable on a daily basis from petty and more serious crime that has been allowed to run rampant on the campus, including thefts and drug dealing.
They pointed to two recent deaths on the campus that were attributed to drug overdoses, as well as to a recent stabbing incident.
The students’ claims were dismissed earlier this week by Education Minister Costas Gavroglou, who suggested that the student body should take the initiative to clean up crime on the campus rather than demanding the intervention of the police.
On Thursday, however, Thessaloniki prosecutor Lambros Tsongas wrote to the city’s police chief demanding immediate on-site inspections and an investigation into the students’ claims.
