Police carry out drug sweep around Thessaloniki university campus
Police in the northern port city of Thessaloniki on Tuesday launched a large-scale drug sweep in the area around Aristotle University after a female student was reportedly attacked by a user.
According to preliminary reports, the operation has already led to dozens of arrests for dealing in illegal narcotics and other related crimes, though police are prevented by law from entering the university's grounds, where there have been reports of increasing drug activity and violence.
The sweep came after a female student at the institution's engineering department told Skai TV on Tuesday morning that she had been attacked in the campus courtyard the previous day by a drug user who slapped her in the face for no apparent reason.
Students and academics at the university have also complained of widespread damage to the Theology Department caused last week by self-styled anarchists who barricaded themselves in the faculty and used it as a launching pad for attacks against police during a protest marking the December 6, 2008, killing of a teenager in Athens by a police officer.
