AUT reports new violent incident against professor, rector

About 30 university students stormed into the office of the Rectorate of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUT) on Tuesday afternoon, shouting insults and threatening employees, attending professors and the Rector, almost a week after a similar incident in the same university.

The students demanded that the senate changes its rules to allow all students to attend and participate in its meetings, a move that would be “blatantly illegal,” AUT said in press release.

The group members forced a TV crew which was in the room to delete any recordings of the incident, took the mobile phone of a professor, punched him and pushed him towards an open window, the university said. “Thankfully, we didn't mourn any victims,” AUT said.

“Such undemocratic behavior by thugs have no place in the meetings of a democratic body such as the Rectorate. The rectorate is a representative administrative body which is not allowed, under the law, to meet in the presence of third parties in the room.” the university said in a press release.

“The rectorate has stated it accepts student representatives but not groups trying to impose their opinions through violence.”

AUT called on the university community to condemn the incident and informed the police, the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Education.