Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-12-21

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Education minister on youth anger, rioting

[01] Education minister on youth anger, rioting

Speaking on Saturday evening, Stylianidis said that they had been a spontaneous and justified explosion of anger by young people over the death of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, who was shot down by a policeman in Exarhia, which others had tried to use for their own ends.

"Our students, completely justifiably, turned out onto the streets. They weren't doing politics. They were not serving any ends. They acted out, cried for the lost fellow student, condemned the reckless special guard and made demands. Behind them, however, some were looting. Certain others sought to recruit them, making them 'pushers' for foreign ideas that are rejected by democratic Greek society. Still others, with their behaviour, sought to drag Greece's international image through the mire, showing it not as a country that gave birth to democracy but as a country of disarray, nihilism and denial," he said.

The minister went on to urge young people to "take off the hoods" and "express themselves freely".

"No one has the right to hide your faces. We live in a real democracy. No one has the right to arm your hands with stones so that you can smash up the small shop owned by your father, who struggles to make a living," Stylianidis urged.

The minister went on to say that the improvement in the day-to-day running of universities in the current year, brought about through last year's educational reforms, was the "barricade" that prevented the explosion on the streets from transferring itself into schools.

Among these improvements he listed the construction of 580 new schools and another 1,233 on the way, reduction in double shifts from 6 percent in 2004 to 2.1 percent at present, an increase in teaching staff and prompt filling of empty positions, as well as the early distribution of school text books. All this had contributed to the smallest number of school sit-ins, strikes, lost class hours and university examinations in the past 15 years, he added.

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