Greek protesters rally amid union strike
Source: Agencies |
May 21, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MORE than 20,000 protesters marched through Athens to parliament yesterday as unions challenged Greece's harsh austerity measures with their fourth general strike this year - and the first since three people died when a bank was torched.
Two separate rallies ended peacefully, but city officials and shopkeepers had taken extensive precautions in case the protests turned violent, like the one two weeks ago.
Store owners closed up and lowered protective shutters before the march began, and police deployed 1,700 officers and detained 36 people.
Demonstrators outside the parliament building banged pots and pans and shouted "Thieves, thieves!" but did not attempt to breach a cordon of riot police holding them back.
The strike closed schools, halted ferries and trains, and kept hospitals running with only emergency staff.
Premier George Papandreou, visiting Lebanon, said he sympathized with many of the protesters.
"The Greek people are understandably voicing their views about the economic crisis, and it is painful. We understand this and I understand this myself. We also know that we must move ahead with these changes in order to make the country with a viable economy, a competitive economy."
Two separate rallies ended peacefully, but city officials and shopkeepers had taken extensive precautions in case the protests turned violent, like the one two weeks ago.
Store owners closed up and lowered protective shutters before the march began, and police deployed 1,700 officers and detained 36 people.
Demonstrators outside the parliament building banged pots and pans and shouted "Thieves, thieves!" but did not attempt to breach a cordon of riot police holding them back.
The strike closed schools, halted ferries and trains, and kept hospitals running with only emergency staff.
Premier George Papandreou, visiting Lebanon, said he sympathized with many of the protesters.
"The Greek people are understandably voicing their views about the economic crisis, and it is painful. We understand this and I understand this myself. We also know that we must move ahead with these changes in order to make the country with a viable economy, a competitive economy."
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