Greek protesters to surround parliament

GREEK protesters have vowed to surround parliament today to prevent deputies from debating new austerity measures, as unions said they would bring the country to a halt in a national strike.

Pressure is growing on prime minister George Papandreou, who is trying to muster support for a five-year plan that international lenders say is crucial for them to approve a second aid deal for Athens, enabling Greece to avoid a default.

Papandreou’s PASOK party, which holds 156 seats in the 300-seat parliament, will present the plan of tax hikes and spending cuts for discussion today and is expected to pass it later this month.

But indicating the deepening opposition, one ruling party lawmaker said last night he would oppose Papandreou’s plan.

Protesters, who have staged demonstrations every day for three weeks in Athens’ Syntagma square in front of parliament, said they would make a cordon around the building today.

“Now that the government is putting the medium-term austerity programme to vote, we [will] encircle the parliament, we [will] gather and we [will] stay at Syntagma,” the self-styled People’s Assembly said in a statement. “Our first stop is the general strike of June 15th. We won’t stop until they withdraw it.”

Public sector union ADEDY, representing 500,000 workers, said it would march on parliament and join non-union demonstrators in a peaceful protest.

No trains will run, ports will halt operations and hospitals will be reduced to minimal staffing, although flights will not be disrupted.

Greek police will deploy about 1,500 staff throughout Athens to maintain order, as opposed to about 300 each day so far during the protests.

In May 2010, three people were killed when a bank was set on fire amid demonstrations and a 48-hour nationwide strike.

On Monday, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s made Greece the lowest-ranked country it covers and said it looked increasingly likely that Athens would restructure its €340 billion debt load, a move it would see as a default.

Benchmark Greek bond yields hit a record high yesterday and Athens’ short-term borrowing costs climbed at an auction of six-month treasury-bills as buyers demand bigger returns to hold its government debt.

Greece is having little success in reining in spending. The deficit widened by 13% in the first five months of 2011, compared to the same period last year, missing an interim target.

Eurozone finance ministers met yesterday to discuss the new bailout ahead of a self-imposed June 20 deadline for a deal.