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Greek austerity protest sees low turnout in rain
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Greg Roumeliotis and Lefteris Papadimas
ATHENS
Sat Jun 5, 2010 10:29am EDT
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Protesters carry a banner during a rally against the government's austerity measures in Athens June 5, 2010. The banner reads, '' We resist''.
Credit: Reuters/John Kolesidis
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greeks rallied against austerity measures to cut the country's deficit in far fewer numbers than seen in demonstrations last month with the prospect of marching in the rain on a Saturday proving unattractive to many.
World
Some 3,000 people marched peacefully on Saturday through the rain-soaked streets of Athens under grey skies. A May 5 rally, which ended with the death of three bank employees, mustered 50,000 people while a May 20 protest attracted 25,000.
Organizers blamed poor weather for the low turnout, but analysts said the government may be seeing the start of three months respite from public protest as Athenians flee intense summer heat for nearby islands.
"The low turnout could be down to rain, the fact it was a Saturday and poor organization (by the unions) ," said Theodor Couloumbis, professor of international relations at Athens University.
Having clinched a 110-billion-euro ($131 billion) bailout from the European Union and the IMF, Greece needs to quickly see through economic reform while avoiding destabilizing social unrest.
Austerity measures include a public sector pay freeze until 2014, cutting public sector allowances and hiking the main VAT rate by 2 percentage points to 23 percent. Reforms to Greece's retirement system have proved particularly unpopular.
The Greek parliament is expected to vote on a pension bill, which raises the retirement age and curtails early pensions, sometime in June. Unions say it will further hurt the poor who have already been hit by pay-cuts and tax hikes.
The unions behind Saturday's protest have threatened a strike to coincide with parliamentary debate on the pension bill. It would be the fifth strike this year by private sector union GSEE and its public sector counterpart ADEDY, which represent 2.5 million workers, or half the country's workforce.
Many shopkeepers, concerned that demonstrations could once again turn violent, stood anxiously outside their shops on Saturday as protesters passed carrying placards with slogans such as "no to financial Armageddon" and "IMF and EU out."
"The lack of opportunities for young people in this country worries me profoundly, they face bleak job prospects," said 54-year old teacher Aspa Hatzidakis as she marched.
Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland have announced austerity measures to placate nervous financial markets worried by Europe's public debt problems.
"There will be a meeting of European trade unions in Barcelona on June 11 and we are liaising with them to organize a pan-European protest rally in Brussels in September," ADEDY secretary general Ilias Iliopoulos said.
World
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