The family and members of the school community reportedly intervened to prevent the child’s transfer to the Evelpidon court complex under summary procedure. The incident has reached Parliament, with New Left MP Nasos Iliopoulos submitting a question requesting explanations from the government and protective measures for minors.
Parents’ Association statement
The association said the arrest occurred on the evening of Wednesday 5 November, the eve of a major nationwide mobilisation of students, parents and teachers over the deteriorating state of public education.
‘The child’s “crime”? He was found outside a high school under occupation, at a time when many schools in Athens had taken similar decisions. The police forcibly restrained him, handcuffed him behind his back, and held him overnight in a cell at the Exarcheia Police Department. The arbitrariness reached the point of interrogating a 13-year-old without his mother, lawyer or psychologist present. He was threatened to “give up his accomplices”, forced to sign a paper he had not read, and his phone was opened by force so that his messages and calls could be monitored to fabricate a charge of “damage to another’s property”.’
The association stated that its representatives, along with teachers, the local parents’ federation, the 2nd ELME union and students who gathered outside the police station, demanded the child’s release. Under their pressure, the attempt to send him to Evelpidon for an immediate hearing was stopped, and he was eventually freed.
The association pledged to monitor the case closely and press for the full withdrawal of what it called ‘baseless charges’. It also reaffirmed its commitment to support students in their collective struggle against educational reforms such as the so-called National Baccalaureate, as well as to demand adequate staffing, safe school buildings and funding for educational activities.
‘We will continue to stand by our students, denounce police presence and repression in student actions, and condemn every attempt to intimidate our children,’ the statement concluded.
Political reaction
The New Left issued a statement condemning what it described as ‘an arbitrary arrest that offends every concept of the rule of law’.
‘This case exposes the government’s dangerous choice to respond with repression to the demands of students and teachers,’ the party said.
Iliopoulos submitted a parliamentary question seeking accountability and explicit safeguards to protect minors from police abuse.
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