University buildings evacuated ahead of Polytechnic anniversary
Ahead of Tuesday’s anniversary of the 1973 student uprising against the military junta, police riot units conducted simultaneous operations on Friday to evacuate the premises of the historic Polytechnic building (now the National Technical University of Athens) and the Zografou university campus and arrested 92 people – 68 from the Polytechnic building and 24 from the campus.
In a statement, Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis stated that the annual march from the Polytechnic to mark the anniversary will not take place, just as there was no parade for the national holidays on October 28 and March 25, and no Easter celebrations, due to the pandemic lockdown.
“There will be no exceptions, no one has more rights than any citizen who did not celebrate Easter or March 25,” he said, adding that “the march is forbidden this year [and] the police will apply the law strictly everywhere.”
He also clarified that “rights are not threatened, there are no plans against free expression and democracy.”
University authorities have locked the NTUA buildings on Patission Street.
