Greek Students, Teachers Plan Cost-of-Living Protests

Students, teachers and civil servants in Greece are preparing to protest on Wednesday over rising living costs and concerns about public education, saying they face the same problems that fuelled violent demonstrations in France over the weekend.

Rallies are expected around midday in Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, as demonstrators call for better-funded public services and free education.

Katia Koubousidou, head of a student union at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, said demonstrators were demanding accessible public education and planned to continue their demonstrations beyond Wednesday.

“In Greece like in France, we are demanding public, free education,”  Koubousidou told AFP.

“This will not be a one-off protest. We have a plan to continue our demonstrations.”

The protests follow the setting up of tents by dozens of students in Athens’ Syntagma Square, opposite Parliament, and along a pedestrian street in Thessaloniki on Tuesday.

Greece’s civil servants’ union has also called for a work stoppage and a rally in Athens.

Secondary school students and teachers are raising concerns about inadequate school infrastructure, staff shortages and the need for greater public investment in education.

The conservative government has sought to distance Greece from the unrest in France, where demonstrations over the weekend escalated into some of the country’s worst riots in recent years.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday that Greece would not return to the period of widespread social unrest experienced during the financial crisis more than a decade ago, when austerity measures triggered public anger.

Violence in French cities on Saturday saw public buildings set on fire, hundreds of shops looted and more than 2,000 people arrested.