Greek university students hold overnight protest for Palestine

Students take part in a protest against the war in Gaza Strip, in Athens, Greece, on May 13, 2024. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

ATHENS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Greek university students are staging an overnight protest here Monday to show their solidarity with Palestinian people.

Thousands gathered Monday evening outside the entrance of the main building of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where they unfurled a big banner reading "This genocide bears the stamp of the USA- EU-Israel,""No to the involvement of Greece," and "Free Palestine."

Protesters chanted anti-war slogans and waved Palestinian flags, as 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 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 that organized the protest here.

The students also cited their solidarity with similar protest movements in the United States and France, stating 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 port city 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," Greek students' unions said.

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

Students take part in a protest against the war in Gaza Strip, in Athens, Greece, on May 13, 2024. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

Students take part in a protest against the war in Gaza Strip, in Athens, Greece, on May 13, 2024. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

A student shouts slogans during a protest against the war in Gaza Strip, in Athens, Greece, on May 13, 2024. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

A student takes part in a protest against the war in Gaza Strip, in Athens, Greece, on May 13, 2024. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)