Thousands of students and teachers took to the streets across Greece on Wednesday, demanding higher state funding for education, better school facilities and less-crowded classrooms, Reuters reports. About 10,000 demonstrators, including school and university students, rallied peacefully in central Athens and its suburbs, according to police, while others joined marches in Thessaloniki, Patras, Larissa and Crete.
The protesters, many carrying banners reading "To study or to survive," chanted "From Greece to France, we want public, free education" outside the parliament building on Syntagma Square, where students had pitched tents for an overnight protest. The marches echoed a wave of education and cost-of-living protests sweeping Europe, with similar demonstrations breaking out in France and Italy. Riot police shadowed the Athens march, and stores along the route rolled down their shutters, according to the AP.
Teachers declared a one-day strike, and some primary school teachers walked out alongside doctors protesting pay and staff shortages, disrupting state school operations. "Today we are striking because this situation can't continue for our families," teacher Ioannis Rompas told the AP, citing the high cost of living and deteriorating school conditions.
Education Minister Sofia Zacharaki said before the protests that she was hearing students' demands and pointed to more than 733 million euros in projects underway for new student residences and facilities upgrades. The demonstrations pile pressure on Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right government, which faces elections in mid-2027, as Greeks continue to struggle with stagnant wages, high rents and rising energy costs years after the country's debt crisis, Reuters notes.
Greece has recovered from a 2009-2018 debt crisis, when wages and education spending were cut under austerity in exchange for three international bailouts worth about 290 billion euros, Reuters reports. Salaries have increased since, but real purchasing power for many Greeks is still among the lowest in the EU and has taken a fresh blow from rising inflation and soaring fuel prices linked to the Iran war.