ATHENS – Ahead of some 400-strong squads of campus police going to be deployed at major Greek universites seeing rising incidents of violence, the front wall of the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) was spray-painted with threats against school officials.

The rectors response wasn’t to try to rein in the trouble but reach out to students to talk about why it continues unabated, the school a hotbed of criminal activity and students damaging property and getting away with it.

A professor there was also attacked by a hooded gang as he was giving a lecture in an auditorium and had to be rescued by students battling with the invaders who got away, the police not called in.

Despite the unstoppable trouble, the Rector’s office said that it is “at the disposal of the university students for a constructive dialogue on all issues that concern the community,” and suggested a student committee of negotiators, said Kathimerini.

Later there was even more tension when a gang of about 30 wearing hoods started throwing rocks and objects and set fire to dumpsters in another of a series of regular clashes that hasn’t seen major prosecutions.