The dean of the prestigious Athens University yesterday appealed to fellow academics to back him in an initiative to protect university buildings from would-be vandals.

Christos Kittas, who had resigned in protest on Monday when his faculty was torched by arsonists but who revoked his resignation yesterday following an appeal by President Karolos Papoulias, called for the creation of “nuclei” of deans and academics who would be on standby to guard their university buildings in crisis situations. “I want us to send a message to all that if some people aim to put an institution at risk, we will be there to protect it,” Kittas told Kathimerini.

Kittas said he believed additional protection for university buildings was necessary as mistrust between young people and police had intensified following the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy by a police officer.