ATHENS — An educational rally was underway in the centre of Athens on Thursday to demand measures for the safe operation of schools in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Their demands are, among others, a reduction in the number of students per class (up to 15 students per class), teacher recruitment, as well as additional cleaning staff.

Teachers unions, pupils, students as well as parent assocations participated in the rally.

The traffic on the streets around the centre of Athens was stopped.

Clashes During School Pupils' Protest in Downtown Athens

Police in Greece used tear gas to disperse protesting high school students who have organized school strikes in response to classroom overcrowding during the pandemic.

Brief clashes broke out near the parliament in central Athens after students threw several gasoline bombs at police. No arrests or injuries were reported.

Greece’s largest teaching union endorsed the rally and pressed the government to hire more teachers to reduce classroom numbers.

Authorities are struggling with a recent spike in coronavirus cases in the Greek capital, where residents of a nursing home were evacuated and some were hospitalized.

Also Thursday, Greece’s Civil Protection Authority says it will hire 192 people on eight-month contracts to be deployed around the country to assist in efforts for coronavirus contact tracing and quarantine of positive cases.