According to press reports (indicatively: 1, 2, 3, 4), on 22 February 2023, police forces used violence and chemicals against workers and members of the Food and Tourism Union of Attica, during a protest outside the Ministry of Labour in order to satisfy their labour demands. Two protesters were injured as a result of the actions of the police.
In addition to the use of force and chemicals, the police forces also arrested two trade unionists: George Stefanakis, president of the Food and Tourism Union of Attica and Nikos Lavantsiotis, a member of the union and president of the operational union of SELEKT.
The General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) issued a statement on the incident, denouncing the actions of the police authorities, claiming that workers were simply demonstrating outside the Ministry, demanding their just demands, including the extension of unemployment benefits for seasonal workers, when police forces attacked them, resulting in head injuries to one colleague and the arrests of two other colleagues.
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 abuse of police power and the respect for and protection of human rights.
The powers of the police authorities and the conduct to be displayed by them in the exercise of their duties are regulated, inter alia, by Presidential Decrees 538/1989, 141/1991 and 254/2004. Although the Police may use force in order to enforce the law and protect human rights, 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.
In view of the above, it should be noted that in the case in question, the behaviour of the police authorities (unprovoked use of force resulting in injuries to demonstrators, use of chemicals, arrests) appears, according to the reports and allegations, to go beyond the legal limits of police action.
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