Greek University Students Protest in Solidarity with Palestine

Greek university students staged an overnight protest on Monday to show their solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Thousands gathered on Monday evening outside the entrance of the main building of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. They unfurled a large banner that read, "This genocide bears the stamp of the USA- EU-Israel," "No to the involvement of Greece," and "Free Palestine."

The protesters chanted anti-war slogans and waved Palestinian flags. A group set up tents for those who wished to spend the night in front of the university.

"We watch in horror the new murderous attacks against the Palestinian people…The unprecedented students' protests in universities across the world are our response to this crime," read a press statement by organizers from the Student Unions of Athens, which organized the protest.

The students also expressed solidarity with similar protest movements in the United States and France. They stated that they were standing "on the right side of history" and demanding that "the genocide of the Palestinian people be stopped here and now."

A similar overnight protest was staged by student unions in the center of the port city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece on Monday.

"We are joining our voices with students around the world, we become another link in the big chain of solidarity with the Palestinian people… Faced with wars that spread death for profit, everyone has the responsibility not to remain silent," said the Greek students' unions.

Over the past month, Greek students have staged symbolic sit-ins at universities and joined anti-war rallies, following pro-Palestinian mobilizations on university campuses in other European countries.