New Greek law lifts obstacle to police entering universities

Greek lawmakers have approved legislation easing police access to university grounds to investigate complaints, ending a decades-old effective ban imposed in the name of academic freedoms.

The draft law was backed Thursday by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ center-right majority and a small right-wing party, and rejected by left-wing opposition parties.

The reform was a key pledge by Mitsotakis’ month-old government, which argued it was needed to fight violence, vandalism and drug-trafficking in many universities by criminals emboldened by the effective inability of police to intervene.

Police could only access universities if academic officials invited them, unless a serious felony was committed. In practice, such invitations were very rare. Now, officers can enter if summoned by any member of the public

Education Minister Niki Kerameos said academic freedoms won’t suffer.