University students attacked for clearing up trash
A group of students and a professor of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki were heckled and assaulted on Tuesday by a group of around 30 people believed to be far-left protesters after they tried to clear up piles of garbage that have accummulated outside the institution’s theological faculty over the course of a two-month strike by municipal contract workers.
According to witnesses, the students who tried to clean up the mess were heckled by the protesters who accused them of trying to obstruct the workers’ strike and threw more trash onto the grounds of the faculty. Apart from the verbal abuse, one of the protesters is said to have attacked a female student with a spade, injuring her leg.
Last week, the university’s rector Yiannis Mylopoulos denied claims that he had asked contract workers to strike in order to convince the Education Ministry to give the institution more funding. Mylopoulos said this was not true and blamed unionists for the action, which has led to the university being taken over by protesters.
