Students and Teachers March in Athens Demanding More Funding for Education
Thousands of pupils, students and teachers marched through central Athens on Thursday in a nationwide push for better-funded schools.
The rally began at 11am outside the University of Athens, then wound to Syntagma Square, where crowds gathered in front of parliament behind police lines.
Protesters carried banners declaring "From Greece to France, we fight for free public education" and placards bearing the French slogan "Étudier ou survivre?" ("Study or survive?"), borrowed from France's school student protest movement.
Outside parliament, some dumped sacks of rubble from deteriorating schools to highlight the conditions pupils face, from leaking roofs and crumbling plaster to broken radiators.
Police put turnout at about 4,000 across Athens and Thessaloniki combined, well below the 20,000 who marched in 50 Greek cities on 21 October; organisers disputed the figure.
The demands are concrete: more state funding, urgent inspections and repairs of school buildings, permanent posts to fill thousands of vacancies, smaller classes, and withdrawal of new national exams and of a proposal to remove Article 16 of the constitution, which protects public higher education.
The secondary teachers' union, OLME, staged a four-hour walkout from 10am so staff could join.
Behind it lies the cost of living. Students describe rents of 800 euros a month and say many can no longer afford to study at all, with unions demanding a monthly housing allowance and rent caps.
