Greece passes austerity measures; protests continue - Summary

Athens - Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Athens on Thursday as parliament passed an austerity bill that will allow Greece to receive a joint European Union-International Monetary Fund emergency loan.

The demonstrations yelled anti-government slogans and carried a black banner outside the legislature, just as lawmakers inside passed a new austerity bill by a vote of 172-121. Prime Minister George Papandreou expelled three of his deputies who abstained, kicking them out of his ruling Socialist party.

The course of action still leaves the prime minister with a comfortable majority of 157 deputies in the 300-member parliament, but illustrates the tension over the measures, which include salary and pension cuts as well as tax hikes.

The government said the measures are the only chance for the country to avoid bankruptcy.

Riot police later fired tear gas to disperse about 200 protesters who hurled bottles and stone in from of parliament.

The demonstrators could be seen running through the streets of Athens setting garbage cans on fire.

"The situation today is simple - either we vote and implement the deal or we condemn the country to bankruptcy," Papandreou told parliament, one day after riots against budget cuts and tax hikes left three people dead.

He said the government had no choice but to impose tough economic measures in exchange for a 110-billion-euro (160 billion dollar) loan.

Papandreou has defended the measures, which foresee 30 billion euros in savings, saying the government will do everything possible to prevent Greece from defaulting.

"The government has the responsibility of implementing the most difficult financial measures ever taken in this country," said Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou.

Greece urgently requires the EU/IMF bail-out as it faces a May 19 deadline on a debt it says it cannot repay without new funds.

The European Union had hoped that by activating the three-year Greek rescue program it would calm markets and give the government leeway to overhaul its heavily indebted economy.

Renewed investor concerns that the Greek crisis could spread to other eurozone countries and sent Europe's common currency to its lowest level in more than a year while also causing stocks to plumet in the US.

European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said it was essential to contain the fire in Greece so that it will not pose a threat to financial stability for the European Union and its economy as a whole.

On Wednesday, more than 100,000 people took to the streets to protest the spending cuts demanded by the IMF and other European countries before debt-ridden Greece gets the 110-billion-euro bail- out package of loans to keep it from defaulting.

The riots were the worst to hit the country since the police shooting of a teenager in 2008.

Masked rioters, armed with slabs of marble, bottles and Molotov cocktails clashed with police, torched buildings and cars, destroyed shops and tried to storm parliament.

The bodies of three people, including a pregnant woman, were discovered inside a bank in central Athens after rioters broke a window and threw firebombs inside.

Crowds of people could be seen leaving flowers and candles outside the burned windows of the bank throughout the day Thursday.

The deaths were the first during a protest in Greece in decades.

At least 45 people, including 29 police officers, suffered injuries in what Civil Protection Minister Michalis Chrisohoides called a "black day for democracy."

Police officials said 25 people were arrested and another 70 detained during the riots in Athens, the port cities of Thessaloniki and Patras, the city of Ioannina and Iraklio on the southern Mediterranean island of Crete.

The protests came amid a 24-hour nationwide strike that grounded flights to and from Greece, paralyzed sea and rail transport, shut down schools and government services and left hospitals operating with emergency staff.

While many Greeks believe some of the cutbacks are necessary to put their economy back on track, public anger is expected to escalate as many people begin feeling the effect of the austerity measures.

With unions vowing more protests in the next few weeks, the large- scale social unrest and violence is seen as a blow to the ruling Socialist government.

In recent polls, one in two Greeks said they are prepared to take to the streets to fight the austerity plans, which they say are due to corruption and political mismanagement of the economy.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322367,greece-passes-austerity-measures-protests-continue--summary.html.