They were marching to commemorate a bloody 1973 student uprising against the military, but were defying a ban on public gatherings enforced to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

Leftist and communist opposition parties slammed the decision as authoritarians.

Earlier in the day, police did not intervene as dozens of Communist Cake e party members held a rally to mark the anniversary.

They were wearing masks and heeding social distancing rules go in the morning.

Greece's president, political parties and citizens later wreaths and flowers at the empty Athens Polytechnic University.

The campus in the city center would usually be filled with hundreds of people paying homage to those killed.