Students clash with police as rectors discuss changes

Students clashed with riot police in the southern Athenian suburb of Kavouri on Friday as they tried to break through a police cordon and gate-crash a meeting of the country’s university rectors at a hotel.

The rectors were discussing the government’s planned changes to the way universities operate, including the way students vote, the management of funds and how academic institutions are evaluated. Rectors will continue their meeting on Saturday.

Police had earlier closed off a stretch of the east-bound section of Poseidonos Avenue at Kavouri and diverted traffic to the Vari-Koropi highway, causing major traffic jams in the wider vicinity.