ATHENS — "In 2021 the police force will be completely reformed, it will become the Hellenic Police of the 21st century… The police are changing because the world has changed," Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisochoidis said on Thursday during an online press conference, in which he announced the new police operational plan for dealing with gatherings.

According to the minister, the management of gatherings is based on the logic of proportionality, in the sense that the risk will be assessed and there is a graduated response, with the penultimate use of water jets by special vehicles and, lastly, the use of chemicals.

"We are absolutely serious about our role in protecting the right to protest. We will exhaust the limits of leniency and the margins of conciliation," the minister stressed and added: "The right of expression, and of course whoever protests also shouts, is non-negotiable. Equally non-negotiable is the right of the city to operate. Protest and normal functioning are not antinomic, protesters and non-protestors are not enemies. We will do our utmost to ensure respect for diversity, of the citizens' right to choose."

Chrisochoidis also announced that the "white paper" on internal security will be announced next month, while the structure of the police and education is changing fundamentally.