Greeks want their hoods back and they are not so worried about hooliganism. This became clear after the government suggested yesterday that strict measures should be applied for those who wear hoods and hide their faces during protests and demonstrations. The news broadcasts of the big Greek TV stations Mega, Alpha, Alter, and Antenna dedicated much of their air time on the government’s intentions to curb the Athenian troublemakers and gave voice to journalists, lawyers, and the opposition, who basically rejected the new measures.

The viewers who watched last night’s debates found out that the strict punishments, when someone hides their face, are dictatorship, police, and state terrorism manifestations. Let us remind you that wearing a hood, by itself is not a crime. But if someone is committing a crime and wearing a hood, then his punishment will be aggravated compared to not wearing a hood or a mask. For example, this way the punishment for a small hooligan act can be increased with 2 to 10 years because of the hood and for more serious crimes, including murder, the punishment can reach life in prison.

Kostas Karamanlis’ government was pressured to act with more strict measures, in order to secure the public peace in Athens and in other big cities. The street riots, which started last year on December 6^th after the death of the 16 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos, brought many damages mainly to the small and middle businesses in the center of the Greek capital. Damages, which exceed ?1 billion. The cherry on top of the ice-cream was last week, when vandals raged unpunished in the central neighborhood Kolonaki.

Though, in Greece there is a public will and a consensus for dealing with street hooligans. The media, opposition and right-protecting organizations also reject the other suggestion of the Justice Minister – to abolish the inviolability of all universities. According to Greek law, the police do not have the right to enter universities without a court order. It is a practice after every riot in Athens, the vandals to enter universities, where they take off their hoods and masks, get mixed with the students and disappear. And until the police get a court order, the hooligans are already gone. The police remind that one “hooligan crusade” happens very fast. The damaging takes only few minutes and the place of action is chosen in a way to have a university nearby as a sanctuary.

The Greek Communist Party and the Coalition of the Radical Leftists are certain that the inviolability of universities should not be abolished. PASOK said that the current laws are enough, they just need to be applied right, in order to fight hooliganism. The only ones who agreed with the measure were the nationalistic Party LAOS.