Masked youths clash with police at Athens protest

Dozens of masked youths clashed with police today at a union protest in Athens during a general strike against the cash-strapped Greek government’s planned pension and labour reforms.

Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse troublemakers who threw chunks of marble smashed off a metro station entrance and set rubbish bins on fire.

No injuries, arrests or major damage to property were immediately reported.

The violence came as 10,000 people took part in a demonstration organised by the country’s two main unions and fringe left-wing groups. A separate march by 5,000 to 6,000 members of the Communist Party-backed PAME union ended peacefully.

Public services shut down across Greece as workers walked off the job as the strike disrupted public transport, left hospitals operating on emergency staff and pulled all news broadcasts off the air.

They are protesting against draft legislation that would increase retirement ages and make it cheaper for companies to fire workers. The measures are aimed at fixing the country’s debt crisis, which has shaken the entire eurozone.

Protests during previous strikes had also turned violent, and three employees died on May 5 in a bank torched by rioters.

“They’ve declared war on you, fight back!” PAME demonstrators chanted as they walked down a major avenue in the centre of the capital.

Greece is caught in a major debt and deficit crisis. It avoided bankruptcy last month only after receiving the first instalment of a €110bn emergency loan package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

In return, Athens passed painful austerity measures, cutting pensions and salaries and raising consumer taxes, and is now pushing through labour and social security reforms.

The strike disrupted public transport, with bus, metro and tram drivers walking off the job for several hours. The country’s airports remained open and international flights were operating normally, although nearly 100 domestic flights were cancelled.

All news broadcasts were pulled off the air for the day, while no newspapers would be printed for tomorrow as journalists walked off the job until the morning.

Tension mounted once more in the country’s main port of Piraeus, where hundreds of PAME demonstrators attempted to prevent tourists and locals from boarding ferries to Aegean islands, even though a court had declared seamen’s participation in the strike illegal.

The Civil Protection Ministry said all ships scheduled to leave in the morning did set sail, with about 350 passengers. However, about 50-100 people didn’t manage to board their ferries as strikers prevented them from entering the port. Authorities said their tickets would also be valid tomorrow.

Another four ships that were to sail for Crete and the Cycladic islands in the early afternoon had informed passengers that they would depart at midnight, the ministry said.

A similar strike by two seamen’s unions last week – which was also declared illegal – left thousands of travellers stranded in Piraeus for a day. Shipping companies and officials in Greece’s vital tourism industry strongly criticised the government for not taking action to stop the strikers.