Shouting “take your vaccines and get out of here!” and calling on Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to resign, the protesters gathered outside parliament under heavy police presence.
Wednesday’s protest was the biggest show of opposition to the inoculation drive. A recent poll by Pulse for Skai TV found most Greeks said they would get the vaccine, and the majority were in favour of the mandatory vaccination for some segments of the population.
About 41% of Greeks are fully vaccinated. On Monday, the government ordered the mandatory vaccination of healthcare workers and nursing home staff following a steep rise in new COVID-19 infections in the middle of the vital tourism season.
Protests are fairly common in Greece and there have been several in recent months on issues ranging from a new labour law to the most recent Israeli military campaign on Gaza.
A country of 11 million, more than 444,700 people have been infected since the pandemic began and 12,782 have died. Authorities recorded nearly 3,000 new infections on Wednesday.