Protestors in Greece demonstrating against vaccine mandates teargassed by police

Police on Saturday teargassed demonstrators in Greece who were protesting against a coronavirus vaccine mandate for some workers.

There were more than 4,000 protesters in central Athens outside of the parliament building calling for the vaccincation requirement for healthcare workers to be dropped, Reuters reported.

A police official told Reuters that some protesters threw petrol bombs at authorities, so police responded with tear gas. 

This is the third time this month that there have been protests against mandatory vaccines.

The requirement for vaccines is only for healthcare workers and nursing staff in the country. Greece is encouraging teachers to get vaccinated as well; however, it is not a requirement.

Only 45 percent of Greece’s population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, Reuters noted.

Greece has reported more than 474,000 COVID-19 cases throughout the pandemic with more than 12,000 deaths.

Greece wasn’t the only country that experience protests on Saturday; in France, there were around 160,000 people who protested against a bill being discussed in the Senate that would require COVID-19 passes to get into all restaurants and bars in the country, and in Australia, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Sydney and other cities across the country to push back on continued COVID-19 lockdown orders.

Although the protests were mostly peaceful, some protesters got violent with police responding with water cannons and tear gas.