ATHENS – While a relatively new Panic Button app on cell phones to alert police about domestic violence has widely been used by women reporting being attacked or threatened, a man pushed it to complain his wife was abusing him.

That was in the central city of Larissa, said a report on MEGA TV, reporting that the man, 43, alerted authorities about alleged abuse from his 36-year-old wife, no details given although he said he installed the app after assaulting him earlier.

The button became available after a spate of cases of women being beaten, sexually assaulted, stalked, threatened and killed as the government is trying to provide more protections with incidents rising.

That became more heightened after a woman was killed outside a police station where she had gone seeking help from a stalking ex-boyfriend, but was refused, and stabbed when she left despite having a male companion with her.

More recently, the murder of a female victim of abuse from her former boyfriend, directly outside of a police station in downtown Athens, brought the insufficient level of protection of victims of abuse by the Greek police again into the spotlight.

The report from MEGA, however, dispels stereotypes around spousal abuse, and also highlights that while the recent use of the panic button by a male in Larissa is a ‘first’ for the town, it is not the first time that a male has used the button in Greece.

The panic button system has also recently been launched for children to help them report cases of bullying, as violence between juveniles in Greece surged this year.