ATHENS – Thousands of striking Greeks marched peacefully to parliament yesterday in a protest against government austerity measures that was much smaller than a huge rally that led to rioting on May 5th.
Anger may have receded since the shock of big government wage cuts and tax hikes that came in an agreement with the EU and IMF immediately preceding the last big protest. Many Greeks also said they had been put off by the violence of the May 5th march, when three bank workers, including a pregnant woman, were killed after rioters smashed windows and lobbed petrol bombs into the branch where they worked.
Some 25,000 people marched through central Athens and gathered in front of parliament, about half the number that turned out for the previous big demonstration.
Thieves come out, protesters chanted outside parliament as riot police carrying batons and shields ringed the steps of the building. But after an hour most of the crowd melted away and riot police filed off soon after.
The strike was called by unions representing 2.5 million workers, half the countrys workforce, who want the government to withdraw austerity measures agreed with the EU and IMF in return for a €110 billion emergency loan.
Schools and government offices were shut and hospitals were operating on skeleton staff. Tourist sites such as the Acropolis were also closed, ships were kept in port or prevented from docking, and domestic flights disrupted.
While there is public anger over the austerity measures, opinion polls show most Greeks agree reform is necessary to stem the debt crisis. But most feel ordinary people are being made to pay while the rich still evade taxes. – (Reuters)