Clashes break out in Athens during strike as Greek parliament debates new auster

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Clashes break out in Athens during strike as Greek parliament debates new

austerity

By Elena Becatoros,Menelaos Hadjicostis, The Associated Press | The Canadian

Press – 20 minutes ago

ATHENS, Greece - Youths hurled rocks and fire bombs at riot police in central

Athens on Tuesday as a general strike against new austerity measures brought the

country to a standstill.

Lawmakers were embarking on their second day of debate on austerity measures

that must be passed in votes on Wednesday and Thursday if Greece's international

creditors are to release another batch of bailout funds to see it beyond the

middle of next month.

The package must be passed so the European Union and the International Monetary

Fund release the next installment of Greece's €110 billion ($156 billion)

bailout loan. Without that €12 billion ($17 billion) installment, Greece faces

the prospect of a default next month — a potentially disastrous event that could

drag down European banks and hurt other financially troubled European countries.

The new austerity drive is proving hugely unpopular in Greece, and the

demonstration in central Athens soon degenerated into violence. For several

hours, police fired volleys of tear gas and stun grenades at masked and hooded

youths who pelted them with petrol bombs and chunks of smashed marble. Police

said 18 people were detained, with five of them later arrested, while 21

policemen were injured.

The clashes came at the start of a two-day strike called by unions furious that

the new €28 billion ($40 billion) austerity program will slap taxes on minimum

wage earners and other struggling Greeks. The measures come on top of other

spending cuts and tax hikes that have sent Greek unemployment soaring to over 16

per cent.

" 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. " The government has declared war and to this war

we will answer back with war. "

Two demonstrations by a total of about 20,000 people began peacefully, but

tension escalated into violence when two groups of protesters clashed.

The situation quickly degenerated, with rioters setting fire to giant parasols

at an outdoor cafe, using some to form barricades, and smashing windows of a

Mc'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 smashed-up marble and cement paving stones.

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 troublemakers are attacking the police fiercely " and trying to disrupt a

peaceful protest, police spokesman Athanasios Kokalakis said.

The scale of the strike bought large parts of the Greek public sector to a halt.

Everyone from doctors and ambulance drivers to casino workers and even actors at

a state-funded theatre were joining the strike or holding work stoppages for

several hours.

An ongoing strike by electricity company workers kept up rolling blackouts

across Greece. Not far from the violent protest, cafes and ice cream vendors

popular with tourists used portable generators to keep the power on.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled or rescheduled as air traffic controllers

walked off the job for four hours in the morning. Another walkout is scheduled

later. Strikes by public transport workers snarled traffic across the capital

and left tourists stranded around Piraeus.

Many Greeks insist they should not be forced to pay for a crisis they believe

politicians are responsible for.

" We don't owe any money, it's the others who stole it, " said 69-year-old

demonstrator Antonis Vrahas. " We're resisting for a better society for the sake

of our children and grandchildren. "

Even lawmakers from the governing Socialists have been upset over the latest

measures and Prime Minister Papandreou has struggled to contain an

internal party revolt. He reshuffled his Cabinet earlier this month to try to

ensure his party's support for this vote, but the Socialists still only have a

5-seat majority in the 300-member Parliament.

Papandreou urged lawmakers Monday to fulfil a " patriotic duty " by voting in

favour of the new measures, but two of his own lawmakers have suggested they

won't.

European officials have also been pressuring Greece's the main conservative

opposition party to back the austerity bill, but so far their urgings have

failed to convince conservative party leader Antonis Samaras.

" I trust that the Greek political leaders are fully aware of the responsibility

that lies on their shoulders to avoid default, " European Monetary Affairs

Commissioner Olli Rehn said.

In addition to seeking the next batch of bailout funds, Greece looks like it

will need another financial rescue. Papandreou has said a second bailout would

be roughly the same size as the first and hopefully on better terms.

" I call on Europe, for its part, to give Greece the time and the terms it needs

to really pay off its debt, without strangling growth, and without strangling

its citizens, " he said.

Even with the new austerity measures and a second bailout, many investors still

think Greece is heading for some sort of default because its overall €340

billion debt burden is too great.

___

Derak Gatopoulos and Demetris Nellas in Athens contributed.