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| Greek policemen clash with demonstrators during a protest in Athens March 5, 2010. (Xinhua) |
ATHENS, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Downtown Athens was paralyzed once again on Friday when thousands of Greeks took to the streets to protest against the country's newly announced package of austerity measures.
Angry protestors, organized by trade unions, gathered in front of the parliament building as lawmakers were discussing the draft law containing the additional austerity measures.
The Greek government on Wednesday announced budget deficit-reducing measures to suspend pensions, cut bonus salaries and increase taxes.
The bonus salaries will include the Christmas and Easter holiday payments.
"We will become their crisis," protesters chanted, holding banners and flags of the country's two main trade unions covering both the public and private sectors.
The trade unions, ADEDY and GSEE, jointly called for Friday's four-hour stoppage, strike and marches in central Athens and other cities across Greece.
Minor clashes between protesters and police occurred at Syntagma Square, next to the parliament, as young men in cycling helmets and black hoods threw stones at police, who fired tear gas in return.
At least three protesters and one policeman were injured, according to police sources.
Among the injured was GSEE head Giannis Panagopoulos, who was attacked by a group of protesters while he was about to address the crowd. He was transferred to a nearby hospital for first-aid treatment.
Panagopoulos had announced a few hours earlier that a new 24-hour nationwide strike in the public and private sectors, as well as another rally, would be held on March 11.
On March 8, tax office employees will call for a 48-hour strike, while a union close to the Communist Party of Greece plans a new rally.
Manolis Glezos, a widely respected politician who tried to intervene when the first clashes broke out, was transferred to hospital with Panagopoulos, due to respiratory problems caused by tear gas.
Glezos is a symbol of resistance against Nazi occupation of Greece during World War II, when he raised a Greek national flag on the Acropolis hill.
Due to the four-hour stoppage in various public and private organizations and the 24-hour strike in public transport, dozens of flights were canceled and buses, subway and rail services were shut down, as were most schools. Hospitals ran emergency sections only.
In one more symbolic effort to stop the implementation of the measures, a group of protesters on Friday occupied the building of the National Printing House, so that the bill cannot be printed.
Nine out of 10 public sector employees reject the cutbacks on the 14th salary and allowances, according to a poll conducted for the SKAI television channel, published Friday.
Seventy-six percent of the private sector workers opposed the austerity measures while 68 percent of the country's pensioners objected to pension freezes for this year and 61 percent of employers believed the measures were not in the right direction.
Sixty-two percent of the respondents expressed fear that there might be social unrest in Greece because of the economic crisis.
The number of strikes and protests, though not new to the country, is on the rise in recent years.
Police data show there were between 300 and 350 demonstrations held in downtown Athens a year in the past decade.
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| Greek policemen clash with demonstrators during a protest in Athens March 5, 2010. Thousands of Greeks took to the streets to protest against the country's newly announced package of austerity measures on Friday. (Xinhua) |
