Greek Workers Protest

"Landep News"

Greek Workers Protest

Greeks took it to streets again on Wednesday for the first time since the protests in June caused by the governments austerity plans meant to avoid a default of Greece, which would jolt the entire eurozone and the global markets.
15,000 people participate in Athens in two separate rallies, one organized by two powerful workers’ unions and one by the Communist party. Organizers said that the number of the people who attended was double.
The protestors shouted “traitors” and “employees of Merkel,” while the young anarchists chanted “cops, pigs, murderers,” their regular slogan.
During early afternoon, riot police and some of the young people who were wearing masks engaged in clashes after the protestors hurled pieces of stone from the sidewalks at the police troops that were guarding the Parliament, the University in Athens and the luxury hotels on the sides of the Constitutional Square.
All international flights were suspended, as was the national rail service and the ferries, who remained docked where they were in their ports. Public transport in the big cities and the capital run on limited service, enough to permit the people to attend the protests.
Protestors invoked ironically the name of the German prime minister Angela Merkel, whose country is the key investor in the 110-billion-euro bailout package that Greece is receiving.
On Tuesday, the Greek finance minister Evangelos Vanizelos said that Greece could meet the requirement of 8.5 deficit from gross domestic product only if the government can enlist the public support on this cutbacks policy. He urged the Greeks to pay their taxes so that the default may be avoided.
National support seems to be in short supplies though, as more and more people think that it is governmental corruption and incompetence that brought the country on the brink of default.
The labor unions have already called for a second strike on October 19, ahead of the planned vote in the Parliament on the new measures. The vote is expected to he tight since the Socialist party has only four votes more than opposition, and some of the lawmakers are wavering in their decision.
The government is hoping that by reducing the number of workers in the public service sector the situation would be kept under control. This idea explains why the most angry people about this kind of policy are the civil servants. They have staged sit-ins this week in several governmental offices, including in the Labor and Finance Ministry, preventing the financial inspectors from completing their audit.
The audit was meant to assess whether the so called troika, composed of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, would release the second part of the bailout package, without which the country would reach default in about two or three weeks.
The bailout on Greece is a continental fight for the salvation of the eurozone, on which depends the stability and the very existence of the European Union.
Early in the week, the British Prime Minister said that as the eurozone is shaking and its salvation depends also on modifying the treaties on which the European Union is based, the United Kingdom must seize the opportunity to demand that some of the powers be repatriated, especially those referring to employment legislation.
A referendum is to be held in Britain before the end of the year to assess whether the country should continue or not as member of the EU.
Many analysts have speculated that the best course of action toward Greece is for the Balkan county to pull out of the eurozone and revert to the national currency.

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