Students trapped the rector of the University in his office

For more than 4 hours, the rector of the University of Patras, Christos Bouras, was locked in his office as protesting students had trapped him there.

Information from local media also reported that the students they were also guarding his car in order not to be able to leave the University. The protest was held because four students are not allowed to sit for the June exam.

Mr. Bouras asked for help from the authorities through a post on social media.

For their part, the students argue that the rector has not been excluded, but accepts a peaceful protest so that the prosecutions of the students are lifted.

For his part, the rector Christos Bouras flatly denies this claim, speaking of slander, arguing that it is not a peaceful demonstration when there are about 100 people who paint walls, have surrounded cars and made the rector a poster.

Mr. Bouras, in his post on Facebook, said earlier and before the protest ended: “For 4 hours the Rector of the University of Patras has been trapped in his office and his car is guarded so that he does not use it to escape . I want to state unequivocally that I am not afraid of anything and I will not leave the University. Today at the University we will announce the Olympian Mr. N. Kaklamanakis as an Honorary Professor. Let the Political System take its responsibilities and break the guilty silences. Everyone knows and is aware. Such anti-democratic and interventionist actions must stop and those who support them must be condemned. The Public University belongs to everyone and has no owners.”

Regarding the incident, the MP of the New Left Sia Anagnostopoulou had – earlier – made a statement, stating:

We express our undivided solidarity with the Civil Engineering Student Association and its elected representatives, in the face of the unacceptable persecution by the Department’s administration.

The move by the President of the Department to bring disciplinary proceedings against members of the Association and students who participated in demonstrations, is a vulgar attempt to silence their voice and suppress legitimate trade union action. It is unacceptable, under the guise of Kerameos Law 4957/2022, to criminalize student protests and target their elected representatives.

We remind you that the students who are being persecuted, participated in pan-educational nationwide actions, against the bill for private universities, with a request to defend public education. It is not the first time that the administration of the Department of Civil Engineering has resorted to such methods. Already last year, students were prosecuted for their participation in the strike for Tempi.

It is clear that these repeated actions are aimed at silencing the student movement and cultivating a climate of fear and terrorism in the university. Universities should be spaces for free expression, questioning and collective action. The criminalization of dissent and the suppression of student struggles seriously harm academic freedom and undermine the foundations of democracy.

We stand by the Civil Engineering Student Association and the persecuted students.

We call on the university community and all democratic citizens to condemn these unacceptable persecutions and to defend the right to free expression and organized student action.

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