Anti-COVID-19 Anti-vaccine Protests Break Out In Greece Again, Police Fire Tear Gas And Water Cannons

Illustration of protests in Greece. (Wikimedia Commons/Ggia)

JAKARTA - Greek police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse a group of people who threw flares and other objects during a protest in central Athens on Sunday, against mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.

Citing Reuters Monday August 30, more than 7,000 people, some holding crosses, rallied outside the Greek parliament to protest the inoculation. Similar protests in Athens last month were also violent.

About 5.7 million people out of a total population of 11 million have been fully vaccinated, and polls show that most Greeks favor mandatory vaccination for certain groups such as health workers and nursing home staff.

However, hundreds of Greek frontline workers protested on Thursday last week against plans to make vaccination mandatory for the care sector on September 1.

Last month, more than 5,000 anti-vaccine protesters, some of them waving Greek flags and wooden crosses, rallied in Athens on Wednesday local time, against Greece's coronavirus vaccination programme.

Shouting 'take your vaccine and get out of here!' and calling for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to resign, protesters gathered outside parliament under intense police surveillance.

The demonstration was a massive open protest against the COVID-19 vaccination effort. A recent poll by Pulse for Skai TV revealed that most Greeks said they would get the vaccine, and the majority supported mandatory vaccination for some segments of the population.

The government ordered mandatory vaccinations for health workers and nursing home staff, following a sharp increase in new COVID-19 infections amid the vital tourism season.

"Everyone has the right to vote. We voted that the government didn't vote for us," said Faidon Vovolis, a cardiologist, who questions scientific research around face masks and vaccines and heads the so-called 'Free Again' movement.

Vovolis added that he started the group in response to the government's "hard measures" to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak.

To note, cases of COVID-19 infection remain high in Greece, which has reported a total of 581,315 cases since the start of the pandemic last year and 13,636 deaths. There are 1,582 new cases every day on Sunday.