EUROZONE-GREECE/COMMUNIST RALLY Thousands of Greek Communist Party supporters hold rally in Athens

Record ID: 148674

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/COMMUNIST RALLY Thousands of Greek Communist Party supporters hold rally in Athens
  • Date: 2nd July 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (JULY 2, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GREEK COMMUNIST PARTY SUPPORTERS GATHERED ON SYNTAGMA SQUARE, WAVING RED COMMUNIST PARTY FLAGS GREEK COMMUNIST PARTY LEADER DIMITRIS KOUTSOUMBAS ON PODIUM GIVING SPEECH (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) GREEK COMMUNIST PARTY LEADER, DIMITRIS KOUTSOUMBAS, SAYING: "Next Monday, the government will either clinch a new, brutal agreement or
  • Embargoed: 17th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA61FND6BI5HRZVMC2MFPPS6K0I
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Around 5,000 people took to the streets of central Athens on Thursday (July 2) to support a rally by members of the country's Communist Party KKE.
    Waving the party's red flag, they met on the famous Syntagma Square in front of the Greek parliament where the party's head expressed his opposition to the current government, saying that no matter what the outcome of Sunday's (July 5) referendum on austerity demands, the Greek people would be the ones who suffer.
    "Next Monday the government will either clinch a new, a brutal agreement or our exit from the euro will start. Whichever of the two happens, it is our people who will go bankrupt. This is why we keep telling you that the Syriza proposal was from the outset a dead-end for the people," Dimitris Koutsoumbas told the crowds.
    Greece has been plunged into political and economic turmoil during the past week after the country failed to repay a 1.6 billion euro loan to the International Monetary Fund when talks with international creditors failed, plunging it into bankruptcy.
    The government also took the decision to impose capital controls, closing banks across the country and limiting ATM withdrawals to 60 euros per day. This in turn has caused long queues at bank machines and anger on the streets.
    Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has called for a referendum on Sunday (July 5) to decide whether or not the country should accept the austerity demands required by international lenders to receive a further bailout.
    Opinions across the country have been split on the best way forward, but one Communist Party supporter told Reuters TV that Greeks should vote "no" to stop what he described as "blackmail".
    "We wish to see the people get organised and fight against austerity and all those who impose austerity. We believe the only way (towards that) is by rejecting blackmails, to say "No" to both the government proposal and the EU proposal and to choose to fight for themselves," said 28-year-old engineer Panagiotis.
    Late on Thursday, Tsipras told Greeks that the problems they face because of closed banks "will not last long", saying he expected to clinch a new aid deal with creditors 48 hours after Sunday's referendum.
    He told local Antenna television that scenes in Greece - queues at cash machines and a crush of elderly Greeks waiting hours for pensions - were "embarrassing", but he blamed Greece's eurozone partners had forced the European Central Bank to freeze vital funding to the banks.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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