Charitsis says ND 'invested' in security but we are now seeing generalised tension

"The police doing their job is one thing but the sense that a police state has now prevailed is something else," main opposition SYRIZA spokesperson Alexis Charitsis underlined on Thursday, in an interview with Open TV.

Charitsis said that New Democracy had "invested" in security concerns during its election campaign but the picture seen now was one of generalised tension, with police storming into cinemas, night clubs and universities. The citizens do not feel safer as a result of these actions, he added, but quite the opposite.

He accused the government of "enlisting the old, familiar recipe: based on the dogma 'repression and authoritarianism,' it is systematically trying to deflect the [public] discussion away from migration, where there is a real mess caused by its ineptitude."

Charitsis said that "the real image of public universities is not that shown by the media and the police raids," adding that "the govermnent is deliberately making these choices, at the same time as the education minister is legislating in the interests of private colleges".