Clashes erupt at Greece protest
Greek police fire tear gas to disperse anarchists throwing petrol bombs near Athens' parliament during a day-long strike against austerity measures.- In pictures: Greece protests
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Athens clashes as Greek police fire tear gas
Petrol bombs thrown by protesters explode near riot police on Syntagma Square
Greek
police have fired tear gas to disperse anarchists throwing petrol bombs
near Athens' parliament on a day-long strike against austerity
measures.
Clashes erupted during the first trade union-led action since a conservative-led coalition came to power in June.The protest is against planned spending cuts of 11.5bn euros ($15bn; £9bn).
The savings are a pre-condition to Greece receiving its next tranche of bailout funds, without which the country could face bankruptcy in weeks.
Greece needs the next 31bn-euro instalment of its international bailout, but with record unemployment and a third of Greeks pushed below the poverty line, there is strong resistance to further cuts.
The government of conservative
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is proposing to save money by slashing
pensions and raising the retirement age to 67.
But it has also urged the troika representing Greece's
lenders - the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB), and
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - to give it an extra two years to
push the austerity programme through.On Tuesday the Greek Finance Minister, Yannis Stournaras, put a price on that delay for the first time - saying it would in effect cost as much as 15bn euros.
The Greek protest follows a series of demonstrations in Spain and Portugal, which are also facing stringent austerity measures.
- On Tuesday, 38 people were arrested and 64 injured in demonstrations in the Spanish capital, Madrid, where police fired rubber bullets outside the parliament building - two days before the government is due to announce further austerity measures. The Bank of Spain says the country's recession is deepening at a "significant pace"
- Portugal is holding an extraordinary cabinet meeting after big protests forced the government to withdraw a plan to raise employees' tax rates
"We won't submit to the troika!" and "EU, IMF out!", the protesters in Athens chanted.
The BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens describes the scene of clashes between police and some protesters
Schools and government services also closed down, though buses were still running, reportedly to help ferry people to the protests.
A march past parliament turned violent as anarchists wearing black balaclavas and carrying sticks threw petrol bombs and broken bits of concrete at riot police on Syntagma Square.
The strike was called by the country's two biggest unions, which between them represent half the workforce.
A survey conducted by the MRB polling agency last week found that more than 90% of Greeks believed the planned cuts were unfair and a burden on the poor.
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It is the economic, financial and political weakness of Spain that is most alarming”
But some, such as teacher Beverly
Storey, who has lived in Greece for 20 years, say striking is the wrong
way to ensure Greece's crippling debt is reduced - as Greece's poorest
workers cannot afford to strike.
Rather, the government should target well-paid civil
servants, she said - even if it risked alienating an influential voter
base in the process."Greece needs to be brought down to its knees in order to be reborn again," said Ms Storey.
Greece was given a 110bn-euro bailout package in May 2010 and a further 130bn euros in October 2011, backed by the IMF and the other 16 euro nations.
That money is paid in instalments, but correspondents say the lenders are reluctant to stump up the latest slice, as they feel Greece has not made enough effort to meet its deficit-reduction targets.
Greece needs the new money to make repayments on its debt burden. A default could result in the country leaving the euro. COPY www.bbc.co.uk/
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