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More than 10,000 students, pupils, teachers, and employees took to the streets of the capital Athens and other Greek cities on Wednesday to protest against the high cost of living, highlighting similarities with the situation in France, according to police and local media.
A police spokesperson said that about 5,000 people gathered at noon in the Greek capital, while another 3,000 rallied in Thessaloniki, the country's second-largest city.
Additionally, state television ERT reported that more than 3,000 people participated in a march in the city of Patras in the west of the country.
Maria, a municipal employee in her fifties near Athens, said during her participation in a march heading towards Syntagma Square opposite Parliament: "The level of education is very low (...) and schools are suffering from a shortage of staff, and school buildings are dilapidated."
Secondary school pupils and teachers are protesting against the lack of infrastructure and personnel, and demanding increased public spending on the education sector.
According to the Federation of Secondary School Teachers, the shortage in schools amounts to 15,000 teachers.
Katia Kopsidou, a representative of philosophy and pedagogy students at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, told AFP: "Whether in Greece or France, we demand public and free education."
In Athens, high school student Yannis Papanikolaou expressed his happiness with "the demonstrations in France," adding, "This helps us work for change here." He continued, "The windows (inside some of my school classrooms) are broken and the heating does not work."
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