Protesters aim to block Greece vote
More than 5,000 police will be on the streets of Athens today to tackle ongoing protests against Greece’s austerity measures.
Parliament will vote today on whether to adopt more painful measures – a condition for bailout funds needed to prevent a potentially disastrous default - and more anti-government protests and rioting are expected in the capital.
The vote on the €28bn bill of spending cuts and tax hikes has caused widespread outrage, and protesters have vowed to blockade parliament to prevent lawmakers from entering.
Yesterday, hours of rioting outside parliament left at least 46 people injured. At least 14 people were arrested, authorities said, as youths clashed with riot police for more than 10 hours and into the night, leaving the city centre filled with tear gas and strewn with smashed paving stones.
Unions also begun a 48-hour strike yesterday that shut down services and staged mass rallies throughout the capital in another day of chaotic protests.
Even some governing Socialist party deputies have objected to the bill, and two have indicated they might vote against it, although prime minister George Papandreou holds a five-seat majority in the 300-member assembly, and the bill should pass.
The new austerity measures must be passed in a two-part vote today and tomorrow if Greece’s international creditors are to release the next €12bn batch of the country’s €110bn bailout fund, and prevent a default that could drag down European banks and shake the European and world economies.
“Voting these measures is required to maintain our credibility in the (bailout) process,” finance minister Evangelos Venizelos said. “Voting for these measures, regardless of any reservations, is an important, brave act of political responsibility.”
Police and health officials said 37 policemen and nine protesters were hurt in yesterday’s clashes.
Rioters set fire to giant parasols at an outdoor cafe, using some to form barricades, and smashed windows of a McDonald’s outlet and other snack shops. Staff at upscale hotels handed out surgical masks to tourists and helped them with rolling luggage past the rioting, over ground strewn with rubble.
Later, youths set fire to a satellite truck parked near parliament, which rolled downhill into a kiosk whose freezer exploded. Hooded youths ducked behind the burning truck to help themselves to ice-cream cones.
“The situation that the workers are going through is tragic and we are near poverty levels,” said Spyros Linardopoulos, a protester with the PAME union blockading the port of Piraeus earlier in the day. “The government has declared war and to this war we will answer back with war.”
Unions attracted 20,000 protesters to rallies in Athens yesterday, and plan more downtown protests today as most services will remain closed.
