Thousands of schoolchildren, students and teachers marched through the center of Athens, demanding more money for schools and joining the wave of protests from France that is sweeping southern Europe.
The rally began at 11 am at the University of Athens, then the column continued to Syntagma Square, where crowds gathered in front of the parliament behind police fences. The participants carried banners with the inscription "From Greece to France, we are fighting for free public education" and signs with the French slogan "Éllamud or lasurvile? " ("Learn or survive? "), borrowed from the protest movement of the French schools. Outside the Houses of Parliament, several bags of construction waste from dilapidated schools were emptied to draw attention to the conditions in which students learn, from leaking roofs and crumbling plaster to broken radiators.
The demands are specific: increasing state funding, urgent inspections and repairs of school buildings, fixed rates to fill thousands of vacancies, reducing class sizes and postponing new national tests and a proposal to repeal Article 16 of the Constitution, which protects public higher education. The OLME Secondary School Teachers' Union has called a four-hour strike from 10am to allow staff to join the action.
Behind all this is the rising cost of living. Students are talking about apartments costing €800 a month and say many can no longer afford to study, with unions demanding a monthly housing allowance and rent caps.
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