Conspicuous absence

Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis has every right to be angry at the leadership of the Citizens' Protection Ministry.

The area around the historic Athens Polytechnic building and most of the Exarchia district have been allowed to become a base for anyone bent on destroying public property, threatening people's lives and violent activities.

The authorities of the National Technical University now housed in the Polytechnic building have neither the resources nor the power to protect the site from interlopers and vandals.

The state is nowhere to be seen even though violent incidents keep escalating in number and force. What everyone is wondering is whether enforcing the law is so hard or there is simply no will to do so.