Grève : affrontements à Athènes – 5 octobre 2011

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Clashes in Athens as workers go on strike

todayonline.com

Over 25,000 protest; government and public transport paralysed

Oct 06, 2011

ATHENS – Angry and frustrated, Greek civil servants walked off the job yesterday, paralysing the government and public transport to protest against deeper austerity measures that the government says are needed to save the nation from bankruptcy.

At least 16,000 protesters converged on central Athens, and another 10,000 gathered in the northern city of Thessaloniki, beating drums and waving banners reading « Erase the debt! » and « The rich must pay ».

A majority of demonstrators were peaceful, but a few dozen protesters near Parliament threw stones at riot police, who responded with tear gas.

« We want this government out. They deceived us. They promised to tax the rich and help the poor, but they didn’t, » said Mr Sotiris Pelekanos, 39, an engineer and one of the striking workers gathered in central Athens. « I don’t care if we go bankrupt. We are already bankrupt. »

The police said at least two people were hurt. One man was seen bleeding from the head.

Air traffic controllers joined the 24-hour strike, grounding all flights to and from Greek airports. State hospitals were running with emergency staff, while lawyers, teachers and tax officers also did not report for work.

Public transport employees were holding work stoppages in the morning and evening, and state television and radio pulled news programmes off the air. Civil servants are protesting against plans to suspend about 30,000 employees on partial pay, part of new cutbacks that come on top of salary and pension cuts. Read more…