A video showing a large demonstration in Thessaloniki, Greece, has been shared on Facebook with captions implying that the country is currently facing nationwide protests.
One Facebook post sharing the footage on 6 September 2026 said: “GREECE IS PARALYZED; airports at a standstill, ports at a standstill, factories at a standstill, trains at a standstill, EVERYTHING IS AT A STANDSTILL.” Another from a few days earlier said: “#Greece PARALYSED as massive PROTESTS erupt across the country.”
But the clip which is circulating is not recent—it’s from February 2025, when mass protests took place across the country—and there have been no recent reports of protests on a similar scale.
The 2025 protests and general strike marked the second anniversary of the Tempi rail disaster, which killed 57 people, many of them students, when a passenger train collided with a freight train. They came amid widespread anger at the government’s handling of the disaster.
Schools, shops and restaurants closed on 28 February 2025, with flights and trains also cancelled.
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Recent Thessaloniki rallies protested rising living costs
One Facebook post which shared this video claimed in its caption, on 29 August, that “thousands have taken to the streets in a general strike over the soaring cost of living and harsh austerity measures”.
There aren’t any reports of recent protests on a similar scale to the February 2025 demonstrations, where hundreds of thousands reportedly took part in a general strike. But on 5 September 2026 marches did take place in Thessaloniki in response to the cost of living crisis.
Police reportedly estimated over 25,000 people gathered in the port city to call for higher wages and pensions, alongside farmers demonstrating on tractors. The marches coincided with a speech by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the state of the nation’s economy.
