An unprecedented incident initiated by a group of anti-vaxxers in central Macedonia took place on Friday morning: some ten people approached the principal of the high-school in Aiginio handcuffed him and forcibly pushed him into a car. They drove him around and in the end they took him to the police station on the grounds of “violating the Constitution.” They asked the officers to arrest the school principal claiming he was “torturing their children” by obliging them to “wear masks” and “undergo self-tests.” they also asked the police to “requisite the school.”
However, the police officers detained the ‘abducters’ and sent them to police security division in Katerini and released victim, who was transferred with slight injuries and in a state of shock to the nearest health center.
Among the attackers were at least 3 parents whose children attend the specific school.
The attackers are reportedly members of a self-proclaimed group of anti-vaxxers called “Guardians of the Constitution” who are organized with uniforms and often behave as if they are regular police officers.
Teachers and students told media that the “Guardians group” has been targeting the school lately for quite some time. An incident of harassment against teachers took place outside the school the previous days.
Teachers told media that they were threatened by the group that the school would be requisitioned and anti-vaxxers teacher would replace them.
A group of 3 people entered the school without masks and reached the principal’s office to protest against the protective measures the school was implementing following the rules of the Education Ministry and the state.
“They told us that we were illegal and that we were violating the constitutional rights of the children,” the teachers said.
The teachers filed a complaint at the local police station but nothing happened.
On Friday morning, the “abduction” took place inside the school yard, in front of some ten students who were shocked to see their headmaster been abducted and the car leaving the area into an unknown direction.
Students at the school yard short after the incident on Friday morning.
“It was very early in the morning and fortunately the school was not full. But all the children who were present at the incident were terrified by what they saw,” one teacher told local media.
The teachers who were present at the incident testified to investigating police officers.
The president of the students’ council told Mega TV that harassment by the group started early November when one student was tested positive to Covid-19 and another refused to take a test as they were ordered.
“This is the absolute absurdity,” mayor of the area Anastasios Manolas told state broadcaster ERT.
“Such behavior is provocative and unacceptable and police should not allow it to be repeated,” Citizens Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos said in a statement.
According to latest information Friday afternoon, the attackers have been arrested and are now at the prosecutors’ office. Nine men and two women face “felony charges” for the abduction of the school principal as well as a series of misdemeanors including threats, bodily harm etc.
The school principal has, meanwhile, returned home after having some bruises treated.
PS the peak of the Guardians’ paranoia is that they don’t recognize any state authority incl police and then request by police to requisite the school and jail the principal.
The problem -whether they really believe in what they claim or they do it just for the sake of some ‘mysterious” agenda – is that they are live among us instead of resting in some facility behind iron bars.
The more I hear about ‘anti-vaxxers’ the more I despair ! What is it that those people don’t understand about a pandemic ? Why is it those people think they know better than scientists ? How is it that they seem unaware of the DEATHS from this virus ? How is it that they miss hearing the News broadcasts ? How do they not know of the high number of deaths in Greece from this deadly virus ?
I can only assume these are uneducated people and perhaps obtain their false information from off social media sites ??!? I hope there is a way for the full force of the law to be applied to them both to give them a lesson in common sense and also to send a message to others that such behaviour they’ve participated in will not be accepted and will be punished. This is because it is urgently Important that simple people understand how deadly this virus is and how easily it is spread. Good luck to the Authorities.
Virginia, totally agree!! It has gone to far, this is dangerous people who risk their own and, more important, other peoples lifes!!!! It has to be stoped, NOW! Just cant understand their total ignorance!