The view that All political parties must call on society to tone down the rhetoric in order to maintain social cohesion., said the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister ‘Akis Skertsos. Speaking on a television station, Mr. Skertsos mentioned «a spirit of compromise and self-restraint on everyone's part», while, regarding the pandemic, he emphasized that «the restrictive measures are working and saving lives.».
Regarding the events that took place on the morning of Thursday, March 11, at the Aristotle University, Following the police intervention and the evacuation of the building by the student occupiers, the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister was clear. «The occupation ended thanks to the police intervention… an intervention that should have taken place earlier.».
In fact, he expressed the view that Only the police can prevent such incidents from spreading to other universities and ensure social peace. «Those who choose the path of violence and defiance must abide by the rules established by the rule of law,» he emphatically stated.
On the other hand, Mr. Skertsos made pointed remarks against SYRIZA, accusing the official opposition party of «had been providing political cover for demonstrations and marches for the past month,» both at the leadership level and through SYRIZA Youth.
»Therefore,‘ concluded A. Skertsos, «the more political parties encourage participation in the marches, the greater the turnout will be,» calling on SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance not to criticize the government again for participating in the marches, since (SYRIZA) «bears full responsibility and is to blame for this escalation.».
He does, however, acknowledge that If the first incident—which he describes as an isolated one—had not occurred on Sunday in Nea Smyrni, «it is most likely» that the events that followed would not have taken place either.
However, he emphasized strongly, «We do not live in a police state, as SYRIZA wants to portray it at this time. We have a police force that operates within the legal framework established by our political system, (Editor’s note: the police) have procedures and oversight mechanisms in place; disciplinary procedures have been strengthened over the past year; we have adopted its recommendations Alivizatos Committee, disciplinary oversight has been transferred to the Ombudsman», and all of the above have created better conditions for transparency and oversight of the police forces.
«Therefore, there is a distortion of reality and an attempt by the opposition to artificially escalate tensions at a time when there is widespread social fatigue due to the measures we have been implementing for the past year. »We all need to demonstrate a spirit of responsibility, a spirit of compromise, and self-restraint,” he also urged.
