Lawlessness rife in campus building
National Technical University dormitories surrendered to gangs, criminal activities for years
In a dire reflection of the outright lawlessness prevailing at the Zografou campus of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), most of the 22 people arrested in Tuesday’s police operation there are allegedly involved in armed robberies and drug trafficking.
Kathimerini understands that the leadership of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) had informed the Ministry of Citizens’ Protection and the Hellenic Police (ELAS) about the goings-on inside a building housing student residences.
The last complaint was made two months ago, while in 2020 there was another operation ELAS there. “Students say that life there is hell,” an NTUA university student told Kathimerini. Although the police station is just a few meters away from the campus, in recent years, the situation appears to have spiraled completely out of control as gang members resided in the dormitories and occupied rooms which were used as bases for attacks, drug trafficking, and other serious crimes.
“I came here to take exams. At the entrance of the campus there were police cars and media cameras. We heard that shots were fired, that some people were arrested. There was confusion and tension all around. At some point the gates were closed to vehicles and students were passing through a small, adjacent entrance,” said Marina Vathia, a student at the School of Civil Engineering of the NTUA, in comments to Kathimerini.
The building housing the NTUA student residence – both inside and out – is run-down and in a state of decay.
The listed building was constructed in 1975 and designed by the architects Konstantinos Fines and Konstantinos Papaioannou, exponents of Greek modernism in the field of public buildings.
However, the building, with 500 beds, is dirty has a shabby exterior, with graffiti, and is functionally inadequate in terms of elevators, radiators and plumbing. “The building is in a very poor state,” an NTUA official told Kathimerini.
For this situation one could only blame the state agencies that have at times been responsible for the building’s security and maintenance.
However, the deterioration of the building is seen as the result of at least 20 years of lawlessness in the dormitory under the responsibility of the authorities of the NTUA and the police.