Greek riot police fired teargas at crowds of protesters in central Athens today during a 24-hour strike by public sector workers against government austerity measures.
"Officers fired teargas when garbage collectors tried to drive their trucks through a police cordon to join the main march," a police official said. He said some protesters responded by throwing stones, but the incident was quickly over.
The strike grounded flights and shut many state schools and offices today, in the first big test of the government's resolve to tackle a debt crisis which has shaken the euro zone.
The public sector strike comes a day after the socialist government announced fresh measures to further cut the public wage bill and hike taxes, defying unions with plans to save the state €800 million this year.
Unions oppose plans to freeze public wages, slash the salary supplements many Greeks get on top of their base pay, and replace only one in five people leaving the civil service. They say tax reforms, which are also part of the EU-backed plan to shore up Greece's finances, hurt the poor.
Investors, rating agencies and EU policymakers are closely watching the 24-hour strike and the government's response. They have said Greece will not get support for free and urged the government to be firm.
Despite the clashes, the mood in the Greek capital remained calm. Many public sector employees turned up for work in government ministries and schools, while people on the streets said it was too soon to dismiss efforts by the socialist government to pull the country's finances back from the brink.
Weekend polls showed the majority of Greeks back the government's reform measures. The government also appeared to have faced down for the time being a separate protest by farmers blocking highways and a border crossing with Bulgaria, as the demonstration dwindled to the last few people today.
The ADEDY public sector union, which represents half a million workers, said yesterday it was likely to join a February 24th private sector strike or stage another strike in March.
Memories still linger of weeks of violent demonstrations in December 2008, fuelled by anger at unemployment and corruption.
Reuters