Demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails at the police who responded with tear gas in the center of Athens, at a protest against private colleges where thousands of students gathered on March 8, reports "Radio Free Europe" (RSE).
The protest was held on the eve of the parliamentary session, which is expected to adopt a law that will allow foreign private universities to open branches in the country.
Thousands of students have been protesting peacefully for weeks against the reform, which they say would reduce the value of degrees from state universities, but the anger culminated when Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called on lawmakers to pass the law.
"We are afraid that ... even if we manage to finish college, we will never be able to find a job anywhere," 25-year-old Stratos Katselis told Reuters.
"No young person today can make any plans for the future." "All we see are dead ends," he adds.
Mitsotakis, who won a second term last June, said the law would help stem the flow of tens of thousands of Greek students to universities abroad, straining an economy still recovering from a 10-year financial crisis.
He said the law would also help bring Greece into line with the rest of the European Union and increase competition in higher education.
Opposition parties oppose the adoption of the law
The bill is expected to be approved as the conservative government controls 158 MPs in the 300-member parliament.
"Parliament is not only called to vote on a key law, but to approve radical and bold education reform for growth and social justice," Mitsotakis said.
Opposition parties oppose the adoption of the law, claiming that it violates the Constitution.
MP of the largest opposition party, the left-wing Syriza, Haris Mamoulakis said during the three-day debate in the parliament that "The government is thereby introducing the concept of meritocracy that is paid for by school fees." Whoever has money will study the subject: The Power of Privilege".
Greece spends between three and four percent of its annual economic income on education, which is below the European average.
