- Title: GREECE: Communist-led protesters march on Greek parliament
- Date: 29th June 2011
- Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (JUNE 28, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LEFT-WING PROTESTERS MARCHING IN STREET HOLDING BANNERS AND ANTI-AUSTERITY SLOGANS / CHANTING PROTESTER HOLDING FLAG FOR COMMUNIST LABOUR MOVEMENT (PAME) / PARLIAMENT BUILDING IN BACKGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) PENSIONER, PAVLOS SOULIOTIS, SAYING: "Each one of us must fight to resist these terrible measures. Dark days are coming ahead." (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) SINGER, NEKTARIOS AMARTZIS, SAYING: "These measures are destroying the Greek people. Unfortunately, the measures will be passed through parliament. The people on the outside must not accept them. Whatever they vote inside we must not accept it in any form because the people are suffering and our children will suffer." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING / CHANTING PROTESTER HOLDING FLAG FOR COMMUNIST LABOUR MOVEMENT (PAME) PARLIAMENT BUILDING BEHIND PROTESTERS VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS IN SQUARE VARIOUS OF RIOT POLICE CORDON IN FRONT OF PARLIAMENT BUILDING RIOT POLICE CORDON IN FRONT OF PARLIAMENT BUILDING / PROTESTERS STANDING OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT VARIOUS AERIALS OF PROTESTERS
- Embargoed: 14th July 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Greece, Greece
- Country: Greece
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAEUG5V8FVVBVCQOFX8ZSC8VUP0
- Story Text: The Communist Labour Movement (PAME) led thousands of left-wing protesters to the Greek parliament on Tuesday (June 28), at the start of two days of massive strikes called by the unions.
Greece's main labour union ADEDY, the public sector union representing half a million civil servants, and its private sector equivalent GSEE, which represents two million workers, called a 48-hour strike starting on Tuesday (June 28), which they said could help overthrow the austerity policies imposed by international lenders as the price for a bailout.
Over 15,000 PAME-led protesters converged on the capital's Syntagma Square across from parliament, hoping to halt the Socialist government's efforts to approve a fresh round of austerity measures for the debt-stricken euro zone state.
Tens of thousands more were expected to join throughout the day.
"Each one of us must fight to resist these terrible measures," said 60-year-old pensioner Pavlos Souliotis.
"Dark days are coming ahead," he added.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister George Papandreou has until the end of the month to push his unpopular austerity plan through parliament.
Without parliamentary approval for the measures, which have caused a wave of strikes and demonstrations, the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) said they will not release the fifth 12 billion-euro tranche of the 110 billion-euro bailout agreed last year.
"These measures are destroying the Greek people. Unfortunately, the measures will be passed through parliament. The people on the outside must not accept them. Whatever they vote inside we must not accept it in any form because the people are suffering and our children will suffer," said protester Nektarios Amartzis, a singer.
Public disgruntlement over austerity -- including tax rises and cuts on benefits and wages -- has erupted into strikes and protests, some of them violent.
Unemployment is rising. In a poll last month, 80 percent of people said they refused to make any more sacrifices to get more EU/IMF aid. Private sector workers blamed the bloated public sector, civil servants blamed tax cheats and many Greeks blamed corrupt politicians for the country's problems.
If parliament rejects the the government's mid-term austerity plan in a vote on Wednesday (June 28), the 12 billion-euro tranche is unlikely to be released and the Greek government, which has been shut out of financial markets because of the ruined state of its public finances, will run out of money within weeks, probably triggering a Europe-wide crisis. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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