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Greek anti-austerity march erupts, 3 dead
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Greek anti-austerity march erupts, 3 dead
Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou
ATHENS
Wed May 5, 2010 10:39am EDT
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ATHENS (Reuters) - Three people were killed in a fire in central Athens on Wednesday after protesters marching against austerity measures threw petrol bombs into a local bank branch in the worst violence to hit the country since riots in 2008.
World
Tens of thousands of Greeks took to the streets of the capital, clashing with police decked out in full riot gear, who responded with repeated rounds of tear gas and flash bombs.
The violence is a blow to Prime Minister George Papandreou's plans to push through tough budget cuts that were demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in exchange for a 110 billion euro aid package unveiled on Sunday.
Officials said two men and a women had died of asphyxiation in a two-storey commercial building that housed a branch of the Marfin bank. A financial crimes office and local government building were also set on fire.
"On initial evidence, it seems the death was caused by asphyxiation after Molotov cocktails were thrown," parliamentary president Fillipos Petsalnikos told lawmakers as a debate began on an austerity bill that foresees 30 billion euros in austerity measures including wage and pension cuts and tax hikes.
"Dramatic incidents are taking place in the center of Athens," Education Minister Anna Diamantopoulou said. "The government is doing everything possible, on every level."
Police put the march at roughly 30,000 people. But eyewitnesses said there were more than 50,000 -- easily the biggest protest since Papandreou's took office last October and began introducing austerity measures.
Hundreds of black-hooded anarchists roamed the streets, smashing store windows and hacking chunks of marble off buildings to throw at police.
Although they were behind the worst of the violence, other protesters joined them in pelting police with bottles and trying to storm parliament.
Presidential guards, who usually stand immobile in front of parliament, left their posts during the worst of the clashes.
Some of the marchers had dispersed by mid-afternoon, but many were still in the streets, which were littered with burning garbage containers. Police continued to fire tear gas, which rose in clouds above the center of the capital.
A bookstore and a McDonald's restaurant were among businesses that had their windows smashed on the central Stadiou Avenue, where the bank branch was set on fire.
BLOW TO GOVERNMENT
The aid is intended to calm markets and give the government time to overhaul an uncompetitive economy plagued by corruption, and bring down a yawning deficit that totaled 13.6 percent of national economic output last year.
But the euro currency and Greek assets have been pummeled on concern that social unrest could thwart government plans to push through the measures, and on fears that Greece's woes could spread to other euro zone countries such as Portugal and Spain.
The conservative opposition has vowed to vote against the austerity bill, dooming hopes of a national political consensus on the measures.
The government enjoys a comfortable majority in parliament and expects to pass the legislation this week, but Wednesday's violence is a worrying sign.
In past months anti-austerity protests had been fairly peaceful, but Wednesday's violence echoed that seen in the 2008 riots, which were sparked when police killed a teenager.
The public and private sector workers' strike grounded flights, shut shops and brought public transport to a standstill.
"I agree with the strikes. If people don't react, don't protest, how will things change?" said 70-year-old Apostolos Kolokythopoulos, a private sector pensioner who lives on less than 1,000 euros a month.
Maria Tzivara, a 54-year old saleswoman, said she feared for her job. "These measures are horrible," she said.
The center-left daily Eleftherotypia warned on Wednesday that young Greeks would rise up if the government did not do something to give them hope.
"If nothing is done, the explosion of the angry and the disappointed will sweep everything away," the paper said. "Have we forgotten December 2008 and become complacent?"
(Additional reporting by Dina Kyriakidou, George Georgiopoulos, Harry Papachristou and Ingrid Melander; Writing by Noah Barkin; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
World
Comments
See All Comments (17) | Post Comment
May 05, 2010 9:04am EDT
what we see there could spread everywhere
Macedonian
Report As Abusive
May 05, 2010 9:29am EDT
For this BS to stop the EU has two choices. They can either kick Greece out of the EU since they lied and altered government papers to make their economy look like it was doing great, or have the EU take control of the government until they find responsible people to run it after it bails itself out of money trouble. This whole thing started because people were trying to cheat the government by not recording their income properly. But then again if they did pay their taxes the government would have taken the money and put is straight into their own pockets. Its a lose lose situation. The best solution is to kick Greese out of the EU and let them figure it out themselves. This would make the Euro stronger and more reliable. Hell if Germany and Poland could rebuild their economy from scratch then Greece can do it too.
skrzy001
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May 05, 2010 9:34am EDT
They are the murderers, the anarchists and the far-left in Greece who want to destabilise the country in order bring on full-scale communism, instead of this facade of “capitalism” we have now. They and their ideology is what brought us into bankruptcy.
20-30.000 is all they can muster even now in a time of crisis. But they are enough to make the center of Athens a living hell, kill people and even try to take over the parliament.
If they want civil war, let them have it. It is time we finally got rid of them.
NickDiamantidis
Report As Abusive
May 05, 2010 9:44am EDT
If the Greek anarchists want revolution and chaos so bad, let them have it.Otherwise Europe will keep paying for ever after.
blue_orchid
Report As Abusive
May 05, 2010 10:01am EDT
Hard to feel much sympathy for Greeks. Everybody knew your public deficit is out of hand. Corruption is the way of the country. What do you guys expect?
I understand the anger though, I’d be angry too. Too bad there’s really no scapegoat, everybody is to blame.
Too bad the whole of Europe will suffer from this. We’ve all been living over our incomes and payday is coming. Should learn a lesson from the Chinese…
Saatanansaatana
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May 05, 2010 10:05am EDT
People outside Greece, should know there is a difference between people who protest for their country and their rights and brainless so called ”anarchists” , who destroy democracy, burn houses and properties and murder innocent people. It is probably too easy to point and blame from the comfort of your sofa, possibly having never even been to Greece. We should all think and protect our country and its people from this filth. This is their purpose, like you Nick said, to destabilise and bring down the country.
DCha
Report As Abusive
May 05, 2010 10:45am EDT
To Nick Diamantidis as you said
“They are the murderers, the anarchists and the far-left in Greece who want to destabilise the country in order bring on full-scale communism, instead of this facade of “capitalism” we have now. They and their ideology is what brought us into bankruptcy.”
That ideology lead us here?
LoL i dont remember we had soviets or anarchists or any left wing party ever in the lead in this country.
“If they want civil war, let them have it. It is time we finally got rid of them.”
Obvious your words descibe your nature.
Is your father rallys, or you gonna give again a golden coin for every leftist head?
Jim1980
Report As Abusive
May 05, 2010 10:58am EDT
@NickDiamantidis. It’s hard to convince anyone that this is not a big deal, only the usual fanatics that get a bit more dangerous each year. The truth is that PAME and the “anarchists” who have been escalating the anti-austerity activities are closely connected to the unions, and to the political parties. We all as Greek citizens are somehow responsible for this situation – we too are connected.
We may feel offended by some of the comments above, but it is about time we stop blaming others, such as “bad” international bond traders, or national communists and anarchists.
And it’s only natural that fanaticism on the steets of Athens appeals to fanatics on the net, so you get comments like Saatanansaatana’s, skrzy001’s or blue_orchid’s and many more that will follow. These people are not our problem (yet).
cpgp
Report As Abusive
May 05, 2010 11:01am EDT
Jim1980 appeared as I was writing the comment, count him in the fanatics too.
cpgp
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