REPORTS
Allegations of unprovoked assault and arrests at the National Technical University of Athens (N.T.U.A)
The Administrative Staff Association of the university released an announcement alleging that riot police had “invaded” the campus as part of a “police operation” and proceeded to make unprovoked arrests of students in open spaces, in canteens and even at the entrances of the faculties where students were finishing their exams. A student who was on her way to a class was run over by a police motorbike and suffered a head injury. Many of the people who have been arrested were students and doctoral candidates who happened to be in the surrounding area, the statement says, and requests that the students who were unjustly detained be released now.
In a state governed by the rule of law, the action and functioning of the police authorities must be governed by certain principles, including the principle of legality, the principle of proportionality, the prohibition of the abuse of police power, respect for and protection of human rights.
The powers of the police authorities and the conduct to be displayed by them in the performance of their duties are regulated, inter alia, by Decree-Laws 538/1989, 141/1991 and 254/2004.
Although the police may use force to enforce the law, this does not mean that all use of preventive or repressive force by the police is lawful. On the contrary, the arbitrary use of the power to use force and police action in excess of the legal limits is a dangerous phenomenon for a democracy.
The conduct of the police authorities in this particular case (the unprovoked use of force, and the unprovoked and arbitrary arrests of persons, as well as the injury to a female student by a motorbike) appears, however, to be outside the legal limits of police action.
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