Police forces on the morning of Aug. 21 poured into the National Technical University of Athens, closing off streets during the 6:25 a.m. raid.
The police entered the university grounds without provocation and it is not yet known if the incursion was made after the request of the rector or the prosecutor. The operation ended just after 9 a.m.
It is not yet clear whether it was related to Molotov cocktail bombs found in the Aristotle University, to the concentration of immigrants there or that Athens Indymedia portal, which is often critical of the government, is located there.
Police said they arrested six people, three of them foreign nationals from Palestine, while cans of gasoline, sticks, helmets, gas masks and computers were found.
Until two years ago, when the law was changed, police were not allowed to enter university grounds, which had been off-limits after the fall of the military junta in 1974, providing asylum and to protect prosecution for political reasons.
The law restricted the access of the police to university campuses. It required police to seek the permission of a prosecutor before being able to enter the grounds of higher education establishments.
The university, as an institution in Greece, bears a special symbolism and is associated with democracy, the social and political struggles. Especially as regards the Technical University of Athens, this historic symbolism is even more intense, as it is linked with the events of 1973 when a student uprising led to the downfall of the Colonels.
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