Protestsupdated 1h ago2 min read
Thousands Protest in Athens Demanding More Public Education and Healthcare Funding
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Thousands of students and teachers protested across Athens and Greek cities demanding increased education funding. Protests also called for affordable housing and measures to address rising cost of living.
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Greece draws 10,000
Thousands of students, teachers, civil servants, and pensioners marched in Athens on Wednesday to demand an increase in funds allocated to public education and healthcare, better wages and pensions, and measures to ease the rising cost of living. ERT said about 10,000 people marched to the Parliament, while students put up tents in Syntagma Square in front of the Parliament on Tuesday before the demonstration.
Protesters carried signs and shouted slogans, including 'Bread, Education, Freedom,' and they also chanted 'From Greece to France, we fight for public and free education.' The protesters in Syntagma Square also shouted 'Money for schools, not for wars,' as they called for urgent action on overcrowded classrooms, a shortage of teachers, increasing academic pressure, and lack of free time.
Strikes and housing demands
ADEDY announced a strike on Wednesday and expressed solidarity with similar protests in France, according to a press release, as students also expressed support for the French protests. Students in Syntagma Square shouted 'Money for schools, not for wars,' while the demonstrations called for urgent action on inadequate student housing and insufficient funding for public services. Greek Education Minister Sophia Zacharaki acknowledged the importance of demands related to university housing and updating educational institutions, pointing to projects valued at more than 733 million euros dedicated to creating new student residences and improving equipment and infrastructure.
Engineering student Panagiotis MOSKHONAS, 20, said government support for rent amounts to 120 euros per month but does not even cover half of his rent, noting that the amount is paid at the end of the year. Teacher Ioannis ROMPAS said the rising cost of living makes it difficult to meet his family’s needs until the end of the month, alongside deterioration of school conditions.
A Europe-wide wave
The protests in Greece joined a wider wave of youth-led demonstrations across Europe, with the New York Times saying young protesters joined protests in at least seven other European countries after high school students began protesting in France in September. The New York Times quoted Sacha Cossi, a 27-year-old backstage technician for concerts, saying, “A futureless generation is back,” as he sat with Spanish youths under a tarp at a camp set up in the center of Madrid. The New York Times also quoted Cossi saying, “We’re fed up with everything,” and adding, “Things don’t stop changing, but always in a way that doesn’t benefit us.”
In Greece, the Al Jazeera report said protesters chanted “From Greece to France, we want public, free education,” as the country’s protests added pressure to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his centre-right government ahead of elections in mid-2027. Al Jazeera said Greece prepared to hold elections in mid-2027 amid a weakening economy, after a debt crisis from 2009 to 2018 and spending cuts tied to three European Union and International Monetary Fund bailouts worth about 290 billion euros.