Cars Torched As Clashes Erupt in Greece
Pastor Dale Morgan
Cars Torched As Clashes Erupt in Greece*
By JOHN F.L. ROSS
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 17, 2007; 11:37 AM
ATHENS, Greece -- Protesters torched cars, broke bank windows and
clashed with riot police Wednesday during a student demonstration
against plans to allow private universities to operate in Greece.
The violence broke out near the capital's main Syntagma Square as more
than 3,000 protesters marched to parliament, where the plan was being
discussed in a committee. Outside parliament, youths hurled rocks at a
barricade set up by police, who responded with tear gas. Bank windows
were also smashed.
Suspected anarchists threw Molotov cocktails that destroyed four parked
cars, while the flames briefly threatened a nearby office building.
The violence was some of the worst in a series of student rallies in
recent months against the proposed education reform, which would end a
state monopoly on university education.
Students and academics claim that allowing fee-charging private
universities will water down the standard of education for all and
further divert resources from Greece's chronically underfunded
educational sector. They also fear additional numbers of university
students will dilute the value of their own degrees and create a
two-tier system.
The proposed reform _ which requires a constitutional amendment _ would
allow nonprofit private universities to operate fully in Greece for the
first time, and the degrees they award would be recognized by the state.
The final vote in Parliament is expected in late February.
Both the conservative government and main opposition Socialists, holding
276 of 300 parliamentary seats, support the measure, which is expected
to be approved. If it is, the change would come into effect after 2008.
University faculties across Greece were also shut Wednesday as
professors staged a 24-hour strike, while state school teachers called a
series of rolling work stoppages to protest the plans. There were also
rallies in Thessaloniki in the north and in other cities.
The proposed reform is similar to those being instituted in other
European countries including Germany and France. But the issue has
become especially politically fraught in Greece.