3 killed by fire as Greeks run amok in capital
Source: Agencies |
May 6, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
GREEK anger over new government austerity measures erupted into flaming and deadly protests yesterday in Athens as rioters tried to storm Parliament House, hurled Molotov cocktails at police and torched buildings.
Three bank workers, a man and two women, were killed after demonstrators set Marfin Bank on fire in central Athens. As their colleagues sobbed in the street, five other bank workers were rescued from the balcony of the burning building.
"A demonstration is one thing and murder is quite another!" Prime Minister George Papandreou thundered in Parliament during a session to discuss the spending cuts he announced on Sunday, measures even the IMF has called draconian.
Lawmakers held a minute of silence for the dead, the first deaths during a protest in Greece since 1991.
"We are all concerned by Greece's economic and budgetary situation but at this time our thoughts are with the human victims in Athens," European Union President Herman Van Rompuy said in Brussels.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Athens and other cities as part of nationwide strikes to protest against new taxes and government spending cuts demanded by the International Monetary Fund and other European nations before heavily indebted Greece gets a bailout to keep it from defaulting.
In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the bailout critical for all of Europe. "Nothing less than the future of Europe, and with that the future of Germany in Europe, is at stake," Merkel told lawmakers. "We are at a fork in the road."
In the streets of the Greek capital, demonstrators chanted "thieves, thieves!" as they attempted to break through a riot police cordon guarding Parliament House and chased guards away from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the building.
Tear gas drifted across the city as rioters tossed stones and fire bombs at police. Firefighters struggled to put out the flames as at least two buildings were set on fire.
Protesters set up burning barricades and torched cars and a fire truck.
Flights grounded
The 24-hour strike grounded all flights to and from Greece, shut down ports, schools and government services and left hospitals working with emergency medical staff.
The Acropolis and all other ancient sites were closed and journalists also walked off the job, suspending television and radio news broadcasts.
The loans are aimed at preventing Athens' debt troubles from becoming a wider crisis for the euro by engulfing other financially troubled countries such as Spain and Portugal.
Greece faces a May 19 due date on debt it says it can't repay without the bailout.
There is some skepticism that the Greek government can keep up its end of the bargain, helping drive the euro below US$1.29 for the first time in more than a year.
Anger mounted after the Greek prime minister on Sunday announced cuts in salaries and pensions for civil servants, and another round of consumer tax increases, as a condition of the bailout.
In Berlin, Merkel urged Parliament to quickly pass the country's share of the bailout - 22 billion euros over three years - by tomorrow.
Violence also broke out in the northern city of Thessaloniki, where another 20,000 people marched through the city center, with youths smashing windows of stores and fast food restaurants.
Greek unions concede that the government was forced to increase consumer taxes and slash spending.
But they say low-income Greeks will suffer disproportionately from the measures, which aim to save 30 billion euros through 2012.
"These people are losing their rights, they are losing their future," said Yiannis Panagopoulos, head of GSEE, one of the two largest unions. "The country cannot surrender without a fight."
IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned the crisis could spread to other countries despite the efforts to contain it.
"Everyone must remain extremely vigilant," to this risk, he said in an interview published in French newspaper Le Parisien yesterday.
Those who are feeling the crunch are outraged that they have to pay for what they see as politicians' mismanagement of the economy.
"We'll be on the streets every day, every day! You never win unless you fight," said 76-year-old Constantinos Doganis, who gets 345 euros a month from his farming pension fund.
Papandreou's Socialists hold a majority of 160 in the 300-seat Parliament, and with a simple majority of 151 votes needed, the bill is expected to be passed easily today.
Three bank workers, a man and two women, were killed after demonstrators set Marfin Bank on fire in central Athens. As their colleagues sobbed in the street, five other bank workers were rescued from the balcony of the burning building.
"A demonstration is one thing and murder is quite another!" Prime Minister George Papandreou thundered in Parliament during a session to discuss the spending cuts he announced on Sunday, measures even the IMF has called draconian.
Lawmakers held a minute of silence for the dead, the first deaths during a protest in Greece since 1991.
"We are all concerned by Greece's economic and budgetary situation but at this time our thoughts are with the human victims in Athens," European Union President Herman Van Rompuy said in Brussels.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Athens and other cities as part of nationwide strikes to protest against new taxes and government spending cuts demanded by the International Monetary Fund and other European nations before heavily indebted Greece gets a bailout to keep it from defaulting.
In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the bailout critical for all of Europe. "Nothing less than the future of Europe, and with that the future of Germany in Europe, is at stake," Merkel told lawmakers. "We are at a fork in the road."
In the streets of the Greek capital, demonstrators chanted "thieves, thieves!" as they attempted to break through a riot police cordon guarding Parliament House and chased guards away from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the building.
Tear gas drifted across the city as rioters tossed stones and fire bombs at police. Firefighters struggled to put out the flames as at least two buildings were set on fire.
Protesters set up burning barricades and torched cars and a fire truck.
Flights grounded
The 24-hour strike grounded all flights to and from Greece, shut down ports, schools and government services and left hospitals working with emergency medical staff.
The Acropolis and all other ancient sites were closed and journalists also walked off the job, suspending television and radio news broadcasts.
The loans are aimed at preventing Athens' debt troubles from becoming a wider crisis for the euro by engulfing other financially troubled countries such as Spain and Portugal.
Greece faces a May 19 due date on debt it says it can't repay without the bailout.
There is some skepticism that the Greek government can keep up its end of the bargain, helping drive the euro below US$1.29 for the first time in more than a year.
Anger mounted after the Greek prime minister on Sunday announced cuts in salaries and pensions for civil servants, and another round of consumer tax increases, as a condition of the bailout.
In Berlin, Merkel urged Parliament to quickly pass the country's share of the bailout - 22 billion euros over three years - by tomorrow.
Violence also broke out in the northern city of Thessaloniki, where another 20,000 people marched through the city center, with youths smashing windows of stores and fast food restaurants.
Greek unions concede that the government was forced to increase consumer taxes and slash spending.
But they say low-income Greeks will suffer disproportionately from the measures, which aim to save 30 billion euros through 2012.
"These people are losing their rights, they are losing their future," said Yiannis Panagopoulos, head of GSEE, one of the two largest unions. "The country cannot surrender without a fight."
IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned the crisis could spread to other countries despite the efforts to contain it.
"Everyone must remain extremely vigilant," to this risk, he said in an interview published in French newspaper Le Parisien yesterday.
Those who are feeling the crunch are outraged that they have to pay for what they see as politicians' mismanagement of the economy.
"We'll be on the streets every day, every day! You never win unless you fight," said 76-year-old Constantinos Doganis, who gets 345 euros a month from his farming pension fund.
Papandreou's Socialists hold a majority of 160 in the 300-seat Parliament, and with a simple majority of 151 votes needed, the bill is expected to be passed easily today.
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