Aristotle University

The administration building of Aristotle University in Thessaloniki had been occupied by a group of unknown individuals, the Athens-Macedonia News Agency reported on Tuesday, saying that the institution's vice rector, Theodore Laopoulos, could not confirm whether they were students or not.

Funding cuts prompted two of the country’s largest universities to appeal Tuesday for state support, noting that the ability of the institutions to continue operating was at stake.

Professor Yiannis Tzifopoulos on Thursday apologized for comments that those in positions of power should act along “fascist” lines.

In a statement on Thursday, Tzifopoulos, who on Tuesday resigned as deputy rector of Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University over the incident, said he had used the phrase metaphorically.

There was another day of tension at Greek universities on Tuesday, with a senior academic resigning in Thessaloniki and students disrupting a senate meeting in the northern city.

Police in Thessaloniki were investigating over the weekend a shooting which allegedly left one person injured on the premises of the Aristotle University in the northern port city late on Friday.

Witnesses told police that they saw a scuffle break out between a group of people and subsequently heard shots being fired.

A Thessaloniki prosecutor on Thursday ordered an investigation to determine whether members of student associations conducting a sit-in at the administrative faculty of the northern port city’s Aristotle University should be charged with disturbing the peace.

A 24-year-old foreign national faced a prosecutor in Thessaloniki on Tuesday on charges of drug dealing on the campus of the northern port city’s Aristotle University.

Police arrested the suspect on the university grounds after receiving a tip-off about his alleged illegal activities.

They found six packages containing a total of 796 grams of cannabis on his person.

Thessaloniki Mayor Yannis Boutaris on Thursday announced plans to establish a museum of Islamic art in Greece’s northern port city.

Boutaris, who was re-elected in May, told Kathimerini he had already contacted the Benaki Museum in Athens to ask for help to turn either the Alaca Imaret or the Yeni Cami, both former mosques, into a museum.

It will take at least another three years and some 40 million euros for the excavation of ancient ruins discovered during the construction of the Thessaloniki metro, which is ongoing, to be completed, experts have estimated.