Greece joins Spain and Portugal in protesting austerity measures

SMH
Liz Alderman
Niki Kisantonis

Up in flames ... burning firebombs form a backdrop to a
riot officer during a demonstration in Athens on Wednesday.

After a period of relative calm, European markets shuddered once again as protests erupted across Greece and demonstrators surrounded the Spanish parliament for a second day to protest against the austerity program of the Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy.

Greek riot police clashed with hundreds of hooded youths hurling petrol bombs on Wednesday, as tens of thousands of striking workers rallied against a latest round of austerity measures in Athens.

On Tuesday in Spain tens of thousands of demonstrators besieged the parliament over the austerity measures. Last week more than half a million people marched in cities across Portugal to protest against an increase in social security contributions, and a million marched in Barcelona calling for Catalan independence.

The Greek clashes took place after more than 50,000 people marched to parliament demanding the government ignore the latest demands of the country's creditors for additional cuts to salaries, pensions and benefits. Riot police fired tear-gas and pepper spray against demonstrators who used marble stones and bottles as weapons and set fire to garbage bins and portable kiosks in central Syntagma Square.

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One group could be seen setting fire to trees in the National Gardens, causing flames and black smoke to fill the skies above the parliament.

The nationwide strike, called by the country's two biggest private and public sector unions, is the first such action since the country's conservative-led coalition government was formed in June.

The 24-hour walkout affected schools, pharmacists, customs workers, ports and government offices. Museums and major archaeological sites turned tourists away. Shops were closed and ferry services suspended. More than a dozen domestic and international flights were cancelled or rescheduled after air traffic controllers called a three-hour stoppage. Petrol stations remained shut for most of the day and hospitals operated on emergency staff as doctors joined the strike.

Among the strikers was Babis Vasiliadis, a hotel chef who was recently left unemployed. He said: ''This is not just about having a decent job and making enough money to feed your family - it is about the right of every citizen to live a decent life.''

Marching nearby, 58-year-old pensioner Stavroula Zervea, said she no longer can survive after her pension was slashed by more than a third. ''I suspect it will only get worse - but the question is how much more tax hikes can the Greek people handle?'' she said.

Hours before demonstrators hit the streets, the Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, and his Finance Minister, Yannis Stournaras, reportedly hammered out a deal on the $15 billion package of spending cuts, along with a further $2.6 billion in taxes, demanded by the country's international lenders, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The bulk of the cuts will affect wages, pensions and welfare benefits, putting renewed pressure on the country, which is in the fifth year of recession and has seen unemployment soar to more than 24 per cent.

Greece in Flames After Austerity Measures Pass

Common Dreams

Fires raged in Athens overnight with reports that more than 40 buildings had been set ablaze in a violent response to the Greek parliament's passage of an unpopular austerity package negotiated with its European creditors - the EU, ECB, and IMF - in exchange for a tranche of new bailout funds.

Reuters reports:

Cinemas, cafes, shops and banks were set ablaze in central Athens and black-masked protesters fought riot police outside parliament before lawmakers voted on the package that demands deep pay, pension and job cuts -- the price of a 130 billion euro ($172 billion) bailout needed to keep the country afloat.

State television reported the violence spread to the tourist islands of Corfu and Crete, the northern city of Thessaloniki and towns in central Greece. Police said 150 shops were looted in the capital and 34 buildings set ablaze.

Altogether 199 of the 300 lawmakers backed the bill, but 43 deputies from the two parties in the government of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, the socialists and conservatives, rebelled by voting against It. They were immediately expelled by their parties. [...]

The rebellion and street violence foreshadowed the problems the Greek government faces in implementing the cuts, which include a 22 percent reduction in the minimum wage -- a package critics say condemns the economy to an ever-deeper downward spiral.

***

"Enough is enough!" said 89-year-old Manolis Glezos, one of Greece's most famous leftists and a national hero. "They have no idea what an uprising by the Greek people means. And the Greek people, regardless of ideology, have risen."
'Enough is enough!'

"Enough is enough!" said 89-year-old Manolis Glezos, one of Greece's most famous leftists and a national hero. "They have no idea what an uprising by the Greek people means. And the Greek people, regardless of ideology, have risen."
Glezos is a national hero for sneaking up the Acropolis at night in 1941 and tearing down a Nazi flag from under the noses of the German occupiers, raising the morale of Athens residents.

Thousands gathered while it was still light out to take part in an anti-austerity demonstration
in Athens' Syntagma (Constitution) Square on Sunday as officials debated austerity measures.

And The Guardian adds: 
(STRINGER/REUTERS)

[...] the scenes of mayhem on the streets of Athens and all across the country leave big questions unresolved regarding Greece's capacity to stick with the savage austerity. The country is in its fifth year of recession and has little prospect of halting a steep decline in living standards.

With eurozone leaders declaring it was time for Greece to put up or shut up and that Athens' promises could no longer be believed, Greece's two main parties and the caretaker prime minister invoked apocalyptic scenarios for the country if the cuts were not supported.

Meanwhile street battles between police firing rounds of teargas and demonstrators hurling firebombs and marble slabs left Syntagma square, the plaza in front of the parliament building, resembling a war zone.

Rubbish bins burned and plumes of smoke and asphyxiating clouds of toxic chemicals filled the air.

The explosions were so loud, they could be heard inside parliament and the teargas drifting across square reached the debating chamber. The buildings that were set on fire included cinemas, banks and a number of shops, and Greek television reported that dozens of citizens and at least 40 police officers had been injured.

Under a sea of banners denouncing further wage, pension and job cuts, tens of thousands of protesters chanted against "the occupation" of the country by foreign lenders keeping Greece afloat.

Al Jazeera's Psaropoulos said the protest on Sunday began peacefully but had rapidly descended into violence from both police and protesters.

"There is absolute mayhem in the square outside parliament. Thousands of [people] who started peacefully have not been budged by all the tear gas and stun grenades," he said.

Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips, who arrived in Athens as the violence was escalating, described the atmosphere as "surreal".

"The air is thick with tear gas and there are debris and rocks everywhere. I'm now standing by a cinema, and it is no more. It's going up in flames and firefighters are struggling to control it," Barnaby said.