THEY WILL not take it lightly. As their beleaguered Socialist government tries to negotiate its way out of a €12 billion funding crux, Greeks are rallying again at the threat of a new wave of bailout-inspired austerity.
At teatime last night in Athens, a trickle of protesters stopped the traffic outside the imposing parliament building on Syntagma Square. Less than an hour later they were numbered in their thousands, chanting “thieves, thieves, thieves”.
A year into its bailout, Greece is in the grip of despair as its international sponsors come down heavy on the government’s failure to execute promised reforms.
Taking their cue from protest encampments that have sprung up around Spanish cities in the last fortnight, Greek demonstrators have set up tents and makeshift kitchens in Athens’ premier public square.
For seven nights, they have declared their defiance of the government, the EU-IMF “troika” and the country’s €300 billion-plus debt. Deeply unflattering caricatures of prime minister George Papandreou, German chancellor Angela Merkel and former IMF chief Dominque Strauss-Kahn bedeck the trees.
Greek protests have turned nasty and fatal in the past, but the riot police and troops who were guarding parliament last night had their shields at ease.
“The message down here on the street is off with them all, with all of the 300 MPs, we want none of them,” said Manos Kappas (38), an electrical engineer who is campaigning for a referendum on the bailout and constitutional reforms.
Talk of intrusive external supervision over tax collection and privatisation was going down very badly indeed, he said.
“Would you trust a stranger to walk into your own house and manage your own household? We do have some really smart people. We have Greeks working in universities all over the world. We don’t lack the manpower. We just lack people with the resolve and the good intent.”
Vasoko Pidi, an accountant in her 20s, saw something of her own work in the stance of the country’s sponsors. “They are just accountants,” she said. “They want to take their money back but this can’t be happening in the account of the Greek people. The Greek people mustn’t pay for the damage done by the government.”
Albert Angel, an anaesthetist in his 50s, was distributing leaflets declaring hospital staff won’t charge outpatients a €5 fee today. “We’ll block it. Everybody walks in free in every state hospital tomorrow. If we’re strong enough it’s going to be day-in day-out. Meanwhile we’ll start tomorrow,” he said.
Many of the protesters were elderly, giving some of their younger counterparts pause for thought. “When you see people in their 70s and 80s, 75-year-old people and they are yelling, what do you expect for tomorrow? I am 21. You can’t expect anything,” said Apoltolis Andreou, an economics student. “If they told our parents 20 years ago that we were going to be like this . . . they would be crazy.”