Direct attack against the Left Wing by the Prime Minister

"One big mess" is the phrase that characterizes the situation between the government, political parties and the university at the moment, when 300 illegal immigrants have occupied Athens Law School halls.

A meeting was called on Wednesday afternoon, chaired by the Prime Minister, with Minister Ragousis and Vice-Minister Mrs.Dalara, as well as Ministers Mr.Papoutsis and Mrs Diamantopoulou, attending.

Mrs Diamantopoulou is at the moment still meeting with the Provost of the Law School, Mr. Pelegrinis, who by law bears responsibility for maintaining university’s asylum from police.

The PM’s attack on the Left

Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou did not hold his punches against the Left wing parties during his speech at the PASOK Parliamentary Group meeting.

Mr. Papandreou mentioned petty party aims and also spoke of the promotion of lawlessness in violation of academic freedoms.

The Prime Minister stated that “The Left wing and progress do not constitute lawlessness…we should not invest in a messy society and be happy with images of destruction that circulate around the globe”, mentioning the following on immigration policy issues: “progressive and effective rules have recently been launched, with the regulations that Parliament voted on for the granting of political asylum”

Referring to the Left Wing, he added that “It is pointless for the State to have hundreds of useless organisations, since all that can be achieved is the abundance of political favours and the wasting of the taxpayers’ money…Progress and the Left wing cannot confuse progress with statism.

He also wondered whether “it is the left wing’s policy to pass down debts to our children … if it is progressive to allow some people to retire at 45 or to legislate unacceptable exemptions for certain categories of professionals, or for thousands of crooked traders not to issue receipts”.

The Left parties respond

An immediate solution is what the president of KKE asked for, saying that “the immediate issue is all these immigrants who have been exploited by Greek society for years”. She also clarified that “we will not agree with those that are trying to enforce police presence in universities. University asylum is sacred and it should be defended by students and students only”.

Mr.Tsipras, the president of Syriza, proposed that the immigrants be moved to a local municipal gym, saying that «their hunger strike is a good opportunity for those who want to stop all the people that try to help immigrants”.
Athens Mayor Mr.Kaminis has rejected Mr.Tsipras' proposal, saying that the city of Athens is ready to help the immigrants with food etc. but not to take their responsibility solely upon itself .

The Ministry of Citizen Protection says...

The General Secretary of the Ministry has stated that no one informed the Ministry that the immigrants were about to occupy the building. Also, the Minister Mr.Papoutsis said in a new statement that «the Ministry is ready to help out the Provost not only according to the law, but also with the the district attorney present so that all the immigrants can be removed from the building peacefully”.