ATHENS – Often used to getting their way, Greek students upset with COVID-19 health protocols in schools were to march through the country's capital in protest after some had staged sit-ins and other demonstrations.

While they are mostly unhappy about requirements in schools to wear masks and other health protocols aimed at protecting them from the virus, the protest will also be against Greece buying French-made fighter jets as a defense against Turkish provocations and not wanting to serve in the military, said Kathimerini.

Students occupied more than 200 schools across the country, a common tactic in the past which has been allowed, although the concentration this time is in the prefectures of Attica, where Athens is, along with the country's second-largest city of Thessaloniki, as well a Achaia and Magnesia, the report said.

Government spokesman Stelios Petsas said that measures are being explored “to prevent actions that create problems, both to the school year and to the health of the people engaging in sit-ins,” without explaining what they were or what that meant.

The paper, citing sources not named, said the ruling New Democracy's approach will be to try to reason with students and convince them health measures are for their own good.