Clashes broke out Thursday morning outside a public hospital in Nikaia during a visit by Adonis Georgiadis, who was there to inaugurate a new emergency department.
Tensions flared at the General Hospital of Nikaia “Agios Panteleimon” as health workers gathered to protest layoffs in the public health sector and demand permanent contracts. Demonstrators held banners and chanted slogans before the minister’s arrival.
According to protesters, strong police forces deployed at the scene launched an unprovoked intervention, leading to physical clashes between demonstrators and officers. Two doctors were treated in the hospital’s outpatient department after reportedly suffering head injuries during the scuffles. Authorities also arrested one doctor.
Georgiadis said the unrest went beyond a typical labor protest. In statements following the incident, he claimed that specific individuals attempted to block his entry into the hospital and intimidate him. He alleged that those who attacked him were known members of the far-left group ANTARSYA and said objects including water bottles and stones were thrown at him.
“My physical integrity was at risk,” Georgiadis said, adding that protesters trapped him against railings as they tried to prevent him from entering. “Protest is a constitutionally protected right. Violence is not.”
He confirmed that police arrested a doctor accused of verbally and physically assaulting him but said he chose not to file a personal complaint.
Security personnel initially attempted to remove the minister from the scene before escorting him into the hospital through an alternate entrance. He later left through a rear exit under heavy police presence.
Video of the clashes circulated widely on social media, showing confrontations between police and demonstrators that continued for some time outside the facility.
Earlier in the day, during a separate visit to Aretaieio Hospital, Georgiadis said a group gathered outside the building shouted political slogans unrelated to the healthcare system. In a post on social media platform X, he commented that the remarks had no connection to Greece’s public health service or workers’ demands.
The incidents have further intensified tensions between segments of the healthcare workforce and the government amid ongoing disputes over staffing and employment conditions in the country’s public health system.
