Protesters clash with cops in Athens
Source: Agencies |
June 30, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
DOZENS of masked youths clashed with Greek police during a union demonstration yesterday in Athens to protest the government's planned pension and labor reforms.
It was the country's fifth general strike this year.
Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse troublemakers who threw chunks of marble smashed off metro station entrances and set rubbish bins on fire. Running clashes continued along a major avenue? lined with shuttered shops and banks? as rioters armed with wooden clubs made repeated sallies against police.
However, the clashes were far more muted than the riots that erupted during a previous general strike on May 5, when three people died after becoming trapped in a bank torched by rioters.
Riot police chased demonstrators into a subway station. An AP photographer saw police detain one young man in a metro carriage, spraying him with pepper spray.
The demonstration ended soon after, and rioters melted away toward central Exarcheia district? a traditional anarchist hangout.
No arrests were immediately reported, but AP reporters saw at least six people being detained. One motorcycle policeman was injured by a chunk of marble thrown at him, while rioters smashed bus stops and phone booths.
The violence came as some 10,000 people took part in a demonstration organized by the country's two main labor unions and fringe left-wing groups. An earlier separate march by some 6,000 members of the Communist Party-backed PAME union ended peacefully.
The strike shut down public services, disrupted transport, left hospitals operating on emergency staff and pulled all news broadcasts off the air. The country's airports, however, remained open, and international flights were operating normally although nearly 100 domestic flights were canceled.
Unions fiercely oppose draft legislation submitted to parliament last week. The measures? which include raising women's retirement age to 65 to match those of men and require 40 years of social security contributions for a full pension? are aimed at fixing the country's debt crisis, which has shaken the entire euro zone.
It was the country's fifth general strike this year.
Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse troublemakers who threw chunks of marble smashed off metro station entrances and set rubbish bins on fire. Running clashes continued along a major avenue? lined with shuttered shops and banks? as rioters armed with wooden clubs made repeated sallies against police.
However, the clashes were far more muted than the riots that erupted during a previous general strike on May 5, when three people died after becoming trapped in a bank torched by rioters.
Riot police chased demonstrators into a subway station. An AP photographer saw police detain one young man in a metro carriage, spraying him with pepper spray.
The demonstration ended soon after, and rioters melted away toward central Exarcheia district? a traditional anarchist hangout.
No arrests were immediately reported, but AP reporters saw at least six people being detained. One motorcycle policeman was injured by a chunk of marble thrown at him, while rioters smashed bus stops and phone booths.
The violence came as some 10,000 people took part in a demonstration organized by the country's two main labor unions and fringe left-wing groups. An earlier separate march by some 6,000 members of the Communist Party-backed PAME union ended peacefully.
The strike shut down public services, disrupted transport, left hospitals operating on emergency staff and pulled all news broadcasts off the air. The country's airports, however, remained open, and international flights were operating normally although nearly 100 domestic flights were canceled.
Unions fiercely oppose draft legislation submitted to parliament last week. The measures? which include raising women's retirement age to 65 to match those of men and require 40 years of social security contributions for a full pension? are aimed at fixing the country's debt crisis, which has shaken the entire euro zone.
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