Editorial Ta Nea: Dangers

Citizen’s Protection Minister Michalis Chrisohoidis is dedicated. Lawlessness will come to an end. Thugs throwing Molotov cocktails have no place in a democratic society.

Universities will be handed back to university students and professors.

Occupied houses will be returned to their rightful owners.

The police presence in neighborhoods will be more intense.

The minister has promised that “citizens will see policemen in their neighborhoods every 10 minutes”.

After the chaos that prevailed when SYRIZA was in power these measures were necessary and public opinion approves of them.

However, there are two dangers. The one is that certain hot-headed policemen may believe that the need to impose order is a green light for arbitrary actions. There have already been some charges.

The minister is aware of all this and he has offered assurances that whenever there is a charge of police violence there will be a probe with sworn witnesses and it will be reviewed by the Alivizatos Committee. Moreover, the Ombudsman will have a section to review such charges.

The other danger is a decentralisation of lawlessness. While police struggle to put an end to the situation in which Exarcheia has become an impassable area for many, one saw an anti-authority group causing mayhem in a Marousi shopping centre.

Also, what happened the day before yesterday with the police effort to reclaim the Kouvelos mansion and the deviant actions that followed is indicative.

One therefore needs an organised plan to handle such phenomena with patience, persistence and calm.

The aim of returning to normalcy cannot be achieved overnight. That is all the more so when certain asinine people inside and outside of Parliament continue to dispute the self-evident and provoke common sense.