https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/31/greek-activists-warn-of-surge-in-police-brutality-and-rights-violations Greece has seen an alarming rise in police violence, amid reports of unprovoked attacks by officers that have seen protesters beaten with batons and people strip-searched in broad daylight.
Human rights groups, commentators and the country’s leftist opposition have deplored what is increasingly being viewed as the deployment of excessive force by the authorities. Despite a widespread ban in Europe, the use of plastic bullets has also raised alarm.
Amnesty International’s Greek branch described the increase in alleged abuses as “extremely worrying”.
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Elected on a tough law-and-order platform with promises to take on radical leftwing and refugee-occupied squats in anarchist enclaves such as Exarchia in central Athens, Mitsotakis’s government appears to have given free reign to security forces.
Clashes between students and riot police have increased since August when the governing conservative party launched the crackdown by repealing a law that had banned police from entering university grounds, and that had been regarded as sacrosanct in a country that has experienced military-led dictatorship.
