GREECE: Clashes turn Greek streets into battleground after government passes controversial education bill

A battle over education reached boiling point in Athens when violent clashes broke out outside parliament between students and police after parliament passed a controversial education reform bill. In one of the most violent skirmishes in months students attacked police with stones and several volleys of petrol bombs as riot forces chased back the hooded and masked protesters with tear gas. A tight police cordon had been formed outside parliament's entrance but demonstrators who had gathered took on police forces throwing scores of bricks they had broken from sidewalks, sticks, handmade petrol bombs, and even small street lamps they had torn from the ground. Shop windows were smashed, a bank was firebombed and a guardhouse of parliament's presidential guard as police battled it out with the demonstrators, part of a group of some eight thousand protesters participating in the rally outside parliament in one of Athens most frequented squares. Police detained 40 protesters, and seven people were injured. The clashes came just as the government, which holds a comfortable majority in parliament, passed the education reform bill with 164 votes in favour and 117 against with 19 abstentions in the 300 seat house. The government had delayed bringing the bill to parliament following several months of protests by students and teachers, often ending in violence. It has caused heated debate between government and opposition party members and endless dialogues have taken place with university rectors and the country's Education Minister Marietta Yannakou. "I want to thank all my colleagues who participated in these important discussions with their positive, or even negative views," Yannakou told parliament after the bill was passed. The bill calls for more autonomy in university administration and regulation of funding, limits on university student's study terms, and eases an asylum law which prohibits police from entering university grounds during violent protests. It comes as the government failed to get a constitutional revision to allow for the creation of private universities in the country, after the opposition withdrew its support, needed to change the constitution. The government says the bill will help make Greece's universities more competitive and autonomous but students and professors have opposed the move saying education did not need reforms but more funding. Universities have been occupied since January and some exams cancelled putting the term in disarray for many students. Opponents to the bill have vowed to continue protests despite the bill's being passed.

ITN Source | March 9, 2007

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