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Several days after the destruction in the centre of Athens and the subsequent tragicomedy with shifting the responsibility that the police had not entered the Law School at the University of Athens, public opinion was surprised by a new "academic" paradox. The story is as follows: A special guard who entered the library of the Pandio University was arrested and will face fast-track court proceedings with charges of violating the peace in the building.

The young guard is still studying. He came into the library and caused confusion among the students there. "Our students have demonstrated proverbial self-control," said Rector Grigorios Tsaltas, adding that "the coolness and sobriety of the representatives of the university have once again prevailed."

According to sources, the special guard was wearing his uniform and a civilian jacket. He went to the university to see a friend. Students, however, saw the pants and the boots and realized he was a policeman and demanded his removal.

The end of this too sad to be funny story, is that the university administration has filed a complaint with the police and the young special guard has to remain available while the investigation is ongoing.

For those who do not understand what is wrong with the behaviour of the guard we shall clarify that in Greece, there is the so-called university asylum. This means that police authorities are not allowed to enter the university without a prosecutor's order. Although this prohibition is no longer valid as the law on higher education voted by three parties stipulates, it is quite clear that university authorities themselves have no intention of complying with the law and are continuing this odd practice.

But this is not the only regulation of the legal text, which remains only on paper. The "war" against it has been waged at the highest level – that of rector – even before its vote. Its opponents are the administrations of the largest Greek universities, which simply do not apply it.

By law, initial elections, which were to nominate candidates for university councils, were to have taken place in the university this week. They were never held in any of the schools, but it is more interesting how this resistance was organised. A group of young people with left political orientation occupied the Law Faculty at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Buses with students were sent from Athens to other cities to thwart the elections in Patras, Ioannina, Volos and all other universities. Local teachers have revealed that their colleagues from the capital travelled with the students and have even sent e-mails to agitate as many university members as they could to prevent the elections.

Strange as this may seem, they have achieved their goal. It became clear a while ago, that an emergency meeting of rectors would be held on Monday "to discuss the developments surrounding the course of implementation of the new framework law on universities because of the postponement of elections in four of them due to protests by teachers and students."

Today a meeting of the Academic Council of the University of Athens was held to discuss the riots and vandalism during the protest on Sunday. After several hours of discussion, its members have issued a message, in which they took a stand against violence and supported the actions of Rector Theodossis Pelegrinis. In addition, they made a strict call to Minister Anna Diamantopoulou to withdraw the "heavy accusations against the Rector, after her refusal to prove their authenticity," and for restoring the damage at the Law School and finding those responsible. Of course, they did not identify any culprit.

Quite the opposite is the opinion of the board of the observatory for dialogue and research in universities. Its members held a press conference where they accused the administration of the University of Athens of not having informed the police about the occupation of the Law School. In the case of the University of Thessaloniki, they believe that its administration "warmed up" the situation from very early on in order to hold the occupation and thwart the elections.

And while rectors are seeking new ways to extend their stay in the soft rector chairs, the Greek police published the names and photographs of five of the participants in Sunday's defeat. Authorities said they participated in groups that have got through the protesters in Syntagma Square and attacked the riot forces with Molotov bombs, stones and other objects.

The police released other photographs with the appeal to citizens to report if they know any of the faces on them. This is the first time that the police have disclosed the names and data of persons captured for involvement in riots.