LONDON: University of Oxford bosses said Britain should guarantee the rights of European Union citizens after Brexit or Britain’s oldest university could suffer enormous damage as academics leave.
Britain’s parliament is to vote on whether to pre-commit to protecting the rights of EU citizens ahead of its decision to trigger negotiations to leave the European Union. The government says it hopes to come to an agreement with the EU over the rights of citizens once negotiations start.
The heads of 35 Oxford colleges said that EU colleagues were unsettled by the government’s refusal to guarantee their status, and said that some were making arrangements to leave.
“If they lost their right to work here, our university would suffer enormous damage which, given our role in research, would have reverberations across the UK,” the academics said in a letter to the Times newspaper.
The University of Oxford, whose alumni include Prime Minister Theresa May, foreign minister Boris Johnson and finance minister Philip Hammond, was founded over 900 years ago, and last month denied a report that it was considering opening a campus in France in response to Brexit. (Reporting by Alistair Smout)
Oxford bosses tell UK: protect EU workers or academics will flee
Oxford bosses tell UK: protect EU workers or academics will flee
Greek police detain 313 in raid at university after mob attacked police
- Such attacks against riot police near the university campus are not uncommon
- Riot police used tear gas and stun grenades to beat back the attackers
THESSALONIKI, Greece: Authorities in Greece on Saturday detained 313 people in a raid on the university campus of the country’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki, after riot police were attacked by mobs of people hurling more than 100 Molotov cocktails.
Greek police said roving groups of people wearing hoods emerged from the campus of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the predawn hours Saturday to attack a squad of riot police. The unit is usually deployed some distance from the campus to quell any disturbances after all-night parties that take place on university grounds.
Police said all 313 people were released without being charged.
Such attacks against riot police near the university campus are not uncommon but it’s the first time that so many people were detained after such a clash during which an unusually high number of firebombs was used.
Riot police used tear gas and stun grenades to beat back the attackers. One officer was taken to a military hospital for burns to his face and leg while a 21-year-old civilian was treated for respiratory problems, police said.
The university said in a statement that off-campus “extremists” in conjunction with some individuals from within university grounds had committed the attacks. They said an investigation is underway to determine if any students had taken part. They added that no permission had been granted for any party to take place on university grounds.
