THESSALONIKI – Young people, acting together with their teachers, parents and the state, must isolate extreme fascist phenomena and move away from a culture of violence and those that incite it, President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou said on Saturday in Stavroupolis, Thessaloniki. The president was referring to recent violent incidents at the Stavroupoli and Evosmos vocational high schools, during a meeting with young people at the Central Macedonia Social Welfare Centre's Youth Centre.

"It is a shame that this school year, already vulnerable due to the pandemic, has begun with such disruptive phenomena that we saw in recent days," she said, while expressing confidence that the young people studying at vocational schools are there to learn a trade and help their families "and do not dream of a world dominated by violence and intolerance."

Knowledge was strength and qualifications for living, Sakellaropoulou noted, and this was true for everyone. "I say this about the issues with the refugees that we often have. Integration, the society in which we must all be together so that we can build a better future, with knowledge and learning," she added.

The Youth Centre is the first of its kind in Greece has operated on a pilot basis since last July, attended by 50 children up to 18 years old who have been subjected to abuse or are from very poor families.

Earlier, the president visited the Mount Athos Centre in Thessaloniki where she was received by Thessaloniki Mayor Konstantinos Zervas and toured the photography exhibition "Fred Boissonnas. With Odysseus' raft".