Anxiety in Greek Police about a new “Law School”

It might seem that the story with the 237 immigrants in the Law School has had a happy ending; the file of occupations, though, has just opened for the Greek Police. The fear that the occupation of the School might present a bad example and possibly lead to a new round of occupations around the country made officials ask the relevant departments for a plan to deal with a potential situation like this one.

«The fact that the government publicly said that it is impossible to legislate the 237 illegal immigrants leaves the story open. For illegal immigrants, the 237 constitute their only lifeline, as they are desperate and with nothing to lose» said a G.P. officer on protothema.gr.

Given that officially 50.000 illegal immigrants have applied for political asylum in Greece , while at the same time the total number in the country remains unknown, the scenario of similar situations becomes more than possible.

Police officers focus on five points/areas of the country:

    * First is the «hot»  zone in the centre of Athens, where thousands of desperate illegal immigrants live and at any moment some groups might decide to follow the example of the Law School 237.
    * Second is the port in Patra, as there is a large number of illegal immigrants there, waiting for the international ship routes to reach Italy. The picture in the area, according to the police, is disappointing and it is estimated that pretty soon we will have a problem.
    * Similar is the situation in Igoumenitsa, where thousands of illegal immigrants live in awful conditions waiting for ships.

    * The problem is serious in Thessaloniki too, where there is also an unknown number of illegal immigrants.
    * Illegal immigrants have also found refuge in Crete and the authorities are concerned that the Law School occupation started from there.

It’s worth noting that the orders to G.P. officers from the state leadership are clear and strict. Sources from the Citizen Protection ministry say that police operations in similar cases will be the last resort. Of course, the issue of the 237 has not been resolved as their relocation to Patision is temporary and within days new developments are expected.