Striking Greeks took to the streets on Thursday to protest
austerity measures, setting Alexis Tsipras' government its
biggest domestic challenge since he was re-elected in September
promising to cushion the impact of economic hardship.
Flights were grounded, hospitals ran on skeleton staff, ships
were docked at port and public offices stayed shut across the
country in the first nationwide walkout called by Greece's
largest private and public sector unions in a year.
As Greece's foreign lenders prepared to meet in central Athens
to review compliance with its latest bailout, thousands marched
in protest at the relentless round of tax hikes and pension
cutbacks that the rescue packages have entailed.
Tensions briefly boiled over in the city's main Syntagma Square,
where a Reuters witness saw riot police fire tear gas at dozens
of black-clad youths who broke off from the march to hurl petrol
bombs and stones and smash shop windows near parliament.
Some bombs struck the frontage of the Greek central bank.
Police sources said three people were detained before order was
restored.
Five years of austerity since the first bailout was signed in
2010 have sapped economic activity and left about a quarter of
the population out of work.
"My salary is not enough to cover even my basic needs. My
students are starving," said Dimitris Nomikos, 52, a protesting
teacher told Reuters.
"They are destroying the social security system ... I don't know
if we will ever see our pensions."
Tsipras came to power in January promising to end the austerity.
He then accepted the unpopular terms of Greece's third bailout
when faced with the prospect of an exit from the euro zone.
Illustrating the political juggling act the prime minister is
trying to pull off, his own Syriza party came out in support of
Thursday's strike, saying industrial action strengthened the
government's hand in talks with lenders.
The bailout review talks with the EU and IMF inspectors resumed
on Wednesday.
'WE HAVE TURNED INTO BEGGARS'
Government spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili denied suggestions that
leftist Syriza, which fought against austerity when it was in
opposition, was trying to play both sides in supporting the
anti-austerity strike.
The party has said it will implement its side of the bargain
with lenders, but has long maintained that the bailout terms are
excessively harsh.
"We are implementing an agreement which includes (bailout)
measures which are unfair," Gerovasili said.
But Syriza's dilemma cut little ice with some of the thousands
of protesters who converged on the city's main Syntagma Square.
"It's a tactic of Syriza to disorientate the people from
targeting the party," said Ilias Leggeris, 63, a retired bank
worker.
Some demonstrators held pink balloons with "The Promises of
Alexis" written on them, suggesting his words were empty.
Municipal workers in the crowd wore florescent vests with a "not
for sale" sign stamped on their backs.
A group of musicians added a surreal touch with a rendition
of the 50s classic "Rock Around the Clock" as they marched
through the square.
"I cannot take any more," said Irini Kasidokosta, 72, a
retired teacher who has seen her pension cut by 50 percent
over six years.
She directed her anger against both Tsipras and the lenders.
"I wish Tsipras had done what he promised (to overturn
austerity) but they didn't let him," she said. "Now we have
turned into beggars for a plate of food."
Visiting tourists were disappointed to find monuments shut.
"We didn't really know that there was going to be a strike,
we just kind of arrived and we planned for this one day in
Athens and we kind of wanted to see that thing (the
Parthenon)," one tourist from Alaska said.
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