Greek students, teachers, civil servants plan protests over high cost of living

• Greek students, teachers and civil servants will protest on Oct 21 in Athens and Thessaloniki over the high cost of living and education demands.
• Student leader Katia Koubousidou said, “We are demanding public, free education,” and added, “This will not be a one-off protest.”
• Unions also want better school infrastructure and more staff, while Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece would “never return” to past social unrest.

ATHENS – Students, teachers and civil servants will rally in Greece on Oct 21 to protest against the high cost of living, saying they face the same problems that sparked violent demonstrations in France over the weekend of Oct 17 and 18.

Gatherings are expected around midday in Athens and Thessaloniki, the country’s second-largest city.

“In Greece like in France, we are demanding public, free education,” Katia Koubousidou, head of a student union at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, told AFP.

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

Dozens of students set up tents in Syntagma Square, facing Parliament, in Athens, and on a pedestrian street in Thessaloniki on Oct 20.

The civil servants’ union has also called for a work stoppage and a gathering in Athens.

Secondary school pupils and teachers are protesting about a lack of infrastructure, a shortage of staff and increased public spending on education.

The conservative Greek government has sought in recent days to avoid any parallel with the protests and violence in France.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Oct 19 that the country would “never return to the era of great social unrest” during the financial crisis over a decade ago, marked by unpopular austerity measures.

French cities were hit by some of the country’s worst rioting in recent years on Oct 17, with public buildings torched, hundreds of shops looted and more than 2,000 people arrested. AFP