‘No human can stay silent’: Students in Greece join global pro-Palestine campus protests

ATHENS

University students in Greece have set up an encampment in support of Palestine, joining similar protests that started on campuses in the US and swiftly spread to Europe and the rest of the world.

Hundreds of students gathered at the University of Athens’ main building following a call by left-wing student unions close to the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), the country’s fourth largest political party, carrying Palestinian flags and banners expressing support for the Palestinian cause.

Speeches at the rally by student leaders, representatives of Palestinian student groups and KKE General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumpas focused on Western complicity in Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza, where it has now killed nearly 35,200 Palestinians and wounded more than 78,200.

Millions more are displaced in Gaza, facing famine and acute shortages of medical aid and other essentials.

Israel, which is facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice, has also laid waste to large swaths of the besieged enclave, devastating everything from housing to medical facilities, educational institutes, and all sorts of civic infrastructure.

The speakers all called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and for the international community to make a free Palestine a reality.

The protesters also announced that they would also set up an encampment in the university’s main yard, right next to Panepistimiou Street, one of the Greek capital’s major thoroughfares.

Speaking to Anadolu, Andonis Lazos, a student at the Athens School of Fine Arts, said the protesters came out to show “wouldn’t keep silent in the face of the genocide in Gaza being perpetrated by Israel with the support of NATO and the EU.”

“The students of Greece, like all the other students in the world, the US and the countries of Europe, are protesting because they cannot remain silent about this ongoing crime, this genocide by the state of Israel with the support of NATO, the EU and other countries of Europe,” he said.

“Seeing the pictures of dead children in the rubble, mothers crying, it’s truly horrific and no human with feelings can stay silent.”

Katerina Andoiou, who was at the protest with her children, both university students, said their aim is to extend solidarity to Palestinians and all other peace-loving people of the world.

Another student, who wished to remain anonymous, said the protests are not about taking sides between Hamas or Israel.

“I’m here because of what is happening in Gaza, Palestine. A genocide is a genocide,” he said.