Austerity Fury: Striking Greeks Clash with Police, Teargased as Crisis Deepens

A five-day nationwide strike by public sector workers in Greece is now entering entered day three with thousands flooding the streets to vent their anger over drastic state spending cuts. The country's economy has shrunk by almost a quarter since 2008 and forecasts indicate a further decline this year. And despite having received 2 massive bailout packages from international lenders Athens still needs about 10 billion euros more. RT's Lucy Kafanov reports from the Greek capital.

Nervous Greek Voters Brace for Drachmageddon
THE AUSTRALIAN: BANKS closed, supermarkets looted, riots, people frisked for hidden wads of euros as they flee the country, government wages and pensions paid in IOUs, aircraft evacuating stranded holidaymakers. That is the nightmare scenario of a disorderly Greek exit from the eurozone that has been dubbed "drachmageddon".

A nervous calm prevailed in Athens yesterday as the country heads into an election on Sunday that could provoke panic. A win by leftist Syriza would raise the prospect of a Greek exit from the euro, even though Syriza insists it wants to remain in the zone.

Experts see a "Grexit" as fraught with danger. "I would wish for a good scenario to take place, or the least bad. But one can't exclude a bad scenario, where people react, I won't say violently, but nervously, and we will have all kinds of trouble," said Thanos Dokos, director of the respected ELIAMEP think tank in Athens.

"People looting shops and banks - although what kind of money would they get out of a bank? Clashes between the police and extremist elements who would take advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble. Shortages of goods can also happen."

Secret talks between European finance officials this week are understood to have examined possible limits on withdrawals from cash machines, reimposing border checks despite Greece's membership in the Schengen zone and reinstituting capital controls. One fear is that a Syriza victory would provoke a run on the banks that would force the country out of the euro before the new government could take office.

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras dismisses such talk as fear-mongering by his political opponents. At a press conference, he warned: "The biggest threat is not our creditors. It's our own panic."

Syriza officials, however, admit there is a realistic prospect that the incoming government will have to limit bank withdrawals. » | James Bone, Athens | The Times | Friday, June 15, 2012

Greeks Pull Money from Banks ahead of Polls
The Greek election will be closely watched, especially by financial markets hoping for stability in Greece. Many Greeks are reluctant to keep their own money in banks, meaning billions of dollars have left the country's financial system. They have been removing their money from greek banks for two years, sending it to Germany, the United States and other safe havens. As the general election approaches, the initiative has gathered pace. Central bank figures show that deposits shrank by about 17 per cent, or 44.4 billion dollars in 2011. At the end of April this year they stood at 208.1 billion dollars. Consumers are stocking up on nonperishable food, worried about the election outcome. Al Jazeera's Tim Friend reports from Athens.

Troubled Greece: Fears of 'First Domino' to Fall as Austerity Is Counted a Failure

THE GUARDIAN: Greek's leftist party Syriza says recovery depends on a renegotiated bail-out and access to European structural funds

The soup kitchen opens at noon but long before then the queues start to form in the hot Athens sun. A couple of streets away from where sardines, red mullet and squid are piled high in the fish market, those down on their luck line up. While elsewhere life goes on seemingly as normal, students, jobless people, single parents and pensioners swallow their pride and wait patiently. They get two meals a day, at midday and 5pm. This is what a depression looks like.

At first blush, Greece seems no different from any other developed country. People sit in the city centre cafes sipping their iced coffees; yellow taxis cruise the streets; the shops are open for business. But different it is, and it is not hard to spot the signs that this is an economy that has contracted by 20% since the downturn began three years ago and that it is still falling.

You don't need to know that spending in the shops is down by a sixth over the past year; it is obvious from the empty cabs and those shops open but with no customers. You don't need to know that the official unemployment rate is well above 20% and youth unemployment is nudging 50%: it's obvious from the young men idling on street corners and openly dealing drugs.

Greece is broke and close to being broken. It is a country where children are fainting in school because they are hungry, where 20,000 Athenians are scavenging through waste tips for food, and where the lifeblood of a modern economy – credit – is fast drying up.

It is a country where the fascists and the anarchists battle for control of the streets, where immigrants fear to go out at night and where a woman whispers "it's like the Weimar republic" as a motorcycle cavalcade from the Golden Dawn party, devotees of Adolf Hitler, cruises past the parliament building. Graffiti says: "Foreigners get out of Greece. Greece is for the Greeks. I will vote for Golden Dawn to remove the filth from the country." » | Larry Elliott, economics editor | Thursday, May 31, 2012

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Austerity Suicide: Greek Pensioner Shoots Himself in Athens

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A cash-strapped Greek pensioner who said he feared having to “scrounge for food” shot himself dead in Athens’ main square in the latest in a series of suicides and attempted suicides triggered by European austerity measures.

The death of the 77-year-old retired pharmacist in the Greek capital's Constitution Square caused an outpouring of anger and grief and came after similar incidents in Italy.

The pensioner, named locally as Dimitris Christoulas, shot himself with a handgun a few hundred yards from the Greek parliament, which has been the focus of numerous violent protests against tough austerity measures in recent months.

Witnesses said he put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger after yelling: “I have debts, I can’t stand this anymore.”

A passer-by told Greek television the man said: “I don’t want to leave my debts to my children.”

A suicide note found in his coat pocket blamed politicians and the country’s acute financial crisis for driving him to take his life, police said.

The government had “annihilated any hope for my survival and I could not get any justice. I cannot find any other form of struggle except a dignified end before I have to start scrounging for food from rubbish bins,” the note said. » | Paul Anast, Athens and Nick Squires | Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Misery in Athens: 'New Poor' Grows from Greek Middle Class

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Aid workers and soup kitchens in Athens are struggling to provide for the city's "new poor." Since the economic crisis has taken hold, poverty has taken hold among Greece's middle class. And suicide rates have nearly doubled.

If this crisis has reached Piraeus, then it's done a good job of hiding itself. Even on this cold February night, the luxury cars are lined up outside the chic, waterfront fish restaurants in this port suburb of Athens. But Leonidas Koutikas knows where to look. Not even 50 meters off the main promenade, around two corners, misery is everywhere. Koutikas finds a family of five living behind a tangled tent that has been attached to the wall of an apartment building.

Koutikas and his colleagues from the aid organization Klimaka are expected. They hand out their care packages here every night. "Each day the list of those in need gets longer," Koutikas says. He speaks from experience. Until recently, the 48-year-old was sleeping on the streets himself.

Athens has always had a problem with homelessness, like any other major city. But the financial and debt crises have led poverty to slowly but surely grow out of control here. In 2011, there were 20 percent more registered homeless people than the year before. Depending on the season, that number can be as high as 25,000. The soup kitchens in Athens are complaining of record demand, with 15 percent more people in need of free meals.

It's no longer just the "regulars" who are brought blankets and hot meals at night, says Effie Stamatogiannopoulou. She sits in the main offices of Klimaka, brooding over budgets and duty rosters. It was a long day, and like most of those in the over-heated room, the 46-year-old is keeping herself awake with coffee and cigarettes. She shows the day's balance sheet: 102 homeless reported to Klimaka today. » | Johannes Korge and Ferry Batzoglou | Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Greece Suffers Fifth General Strike as Metro Blockaded in Madrid
Violence erupted in Bilbao during a one-day general strike. Photo: The Times
THE TIMES: Violence broke out during Greece’s fifth general strike of the year, while in Madrid the Metro was blockaded in a foretaste of a summer of industrial unrest.

As Mediterranean governments push through austerity measures, masked youths took part in running battles with police in Athens, with domestic flights and many ferry sailings from the port of Piraeus cancelled.

Public and private sector unions in the country announced that there would be a sixth all-out stoppage next week, when the package of pay and pension reforms comes to a final vote.

“These measures will not help. They will only lead to deeper recession and poverty,” said Despina Spanou, a board member of the Adedy civil servants’ union, which helped to organise the marches. “We are resisting the slaughtering of our rights.”

The governments of Greece and Spain are increasingly worried about the impact of unrest on tourism — which is a mainstay of both economies. >>> Philip Pangalos in Athens, William Bond in Madrid, David Charter in Brussels | Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Greek Police Clash with Protesters over Austerity Reforms
Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades. Photograph: The Times
THE TIMES: Masked youths fought running battles with police in Athens today as violence broke out during the country’s fifth general strike this year.

Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse dozens of protesters who threw chunks of marble and set rubbish bins on fire.

Ferry passengers at Greece’s main port of Piraeus had to run a gauntlet of protesters who succeeded in blockading some departures to Aegean islands and there were marches in other major cities.

The strike was timed to coincide with the start of a parliamentary debate on reforms designed to make it easier for companies to sack employees and raise the retirement age.

Greece has had to agree to sweeping austerity measures in return for help to meet its sovereign debts.

The country avoided bankruptcy last month only after receiving the first instalment of a 110 billion euro emergency loan package from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF). >>> David Charter, Europe Correspondent | Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Greece on Brink of Abyss as Three Bank Workers Killed in Riots
A riot policeman falls after being hit by a molotov cocktail near the Greek parliament in Athens. Photograph: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: The President of Greece warned last night that his country stood on the brink of the abyss after three people were killed when an anti-government mob set fire to the Athens bank where they worked.

“I have difficulty in finding the words to express my distress and outrage,” President Papoulias said. “The big challenge we face is to maintain social cohesion and peace. Our country came to the brink of the abyss. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that we don’t step over the edge.”

Violence flared as tens of thousands of striking workers and civil servants took to the streets of the capital and the northern city of Salonika to protest against the Government’s austerity measures.

The demonstrators gathered as George Papandreou, the Prime Minister, was trying to push through parliament tough budget cuts demanded by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a ¤110 billion aid package.

“We are all deeply shocked by the unjust death of three workers, three of our fellow citizens, who were victims of murderous attacks,” he told MPs. >>> Philip Pangalos in Athens | Thursday, May 06, 2010

Greek Protestors Unfurl Banners on Acropolis
THE TELEGRAPH: Greek protesters have unfurled banners over the walls of the Acropolis attacking new austerity measures imposed as a condition of an international bailout.

Greek Communist Party members wave flags from the Acropolis archaeological site behind a banner hung in front of the Parthenon temple. Photo: The Telegraph
About 100 protesters from the Greek Communist Party cut through locks on the gates of the major tourist attraction shortly after dawn and unfurled the banners in Greek and English reading: "Peoples of Europe - Rise Up."

Police did not intervene as the protesters carrying red flags stood beside the ancient Parthenon, next to the two large banners. The demonstrators did not attempt to prevent tourists from visiting the site.

Greece's government announced sweeping spending cuts worth 30 billion euros through 2012, in order to secure a rescue package of loans from the International Monetary Fund and the other 15 European Union countries using the euro. >>> | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Verbunden: Akropolis aus Protest gegen Sparpaket besetzt: Spektakuläre Aktion zum Auftakt der landesweiten Streiks >>> sda/afp | Dienstag, 04. Mai 2010

Revolution from Greece's Ruins as Crisis Deepens
THE TELEGRAPH: As Greeks face changing their way of life, rioters in Athens clash with police at the start of a very long, painful summer for the country.



The week was already going badly enough for mild-mannered Greek prime minister George Papandreou. After months of insisting that his country would be able to claw its own way out of decades of mismanagement and corruption, his belated SOS to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ensured that Greece's world famous ruins are now financial, not archaeological.

But then things got worse. Even as Mr Papandreou likened himself to Homer's great survivor, Odysseus, his country's fortunes were being sunk between a modern Scylla and Charybdis: German intransigence over a financial bailout on one side, and market jitters that downgraded Greek bonds to junk status on the other.

On Sunday, however, as the details of an economic life raft from the EU and IMF are due to be announced, Mr Papandreou will be forced to survey not simply the wreckage of the Greek economy, but the beginnings of "cultural revolution" that analysts say his homeland's crisis is set to unleash across the continent of Europe. >>> Harry de Quetteville and Paul Anast in Athens | Saturday, May 01, 2010

Edmund Conway – Greek Crisis: Athens to Ashes
THE TELEGRAPH: The Greek horror story should scare us all, says Edmund Conway. Its problems are not unique.

Anger bubbles over in Athens Photo: The Telegraph
It has all the ingredients for a perfect Hollywood sequel. The cliffhanger plot kicks off right where its predecessor ended; the cast is stellar, some characters from the original reprising their roles. But this time the stakes are even higher, the mood even tenser.

Greece is on the brink of bankruptcy. Based on almost any yardstick, markets are now betting that the government will default on its debt. At a staggering 18 per cent, the going rate to borrow for a mere two years is similar to the penal rates credit card companies charge their dodgiest customers. The government, International Monetary Fund and European Union have promised, vaguely, to hand over the necessary cash to help tide the country over, but to no avail.

It would be all the more shocking had it not happened before. But Greece's problems today are merely Lehman Brothers redux. This is Global Meltdown 2. Granted, this time it is a country, rather than a mere bank, that faces collapse; this time, the victim may really be too big to fail. But the pattern is eerily familiar: the money starts to run out; investors realise with horror that there is a real chance of failure; the politicians promise that they will stand behind the institution; in a last-gasp attempt to halt the disaster, they ban short-selling; eventually the law of gravity proves irresistible, investors stage an effective run on the banks and the end is nigh.

Faced with such a scenario, there are two options: confront the crisis, knowing you simply may not have the firepower to deal with it, or go running, screaming, for the hills. The head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Angel Gurria, has chosen the latter path, declaring that the contagion is spreading "like Ebola... when you realise you have it you have to cut your leg off in order to survive".

Before we lapse into amateur dramatics, however, let's establish the facts: the market for Greek government debt has effectively frozen, much as the money markets did worldwide in 2007 – the initial trigger point for the crisis. Its banking system, stacked high with those same government bonds, is effectively insolvent. The country had been due to return to investors on May 19 to raise money; if a bail-out cannot be agreed by then, Greece will have no option but to default. But even that deadline is increasingly academic: the country has fallen victim to a run, and as anyone who watched Northern Rock's demise knows, what follows is not usually pretty. How did it come to this? >>> Edmund Conway | Thursday, April 29, 2010

Grèce : Athènes va annoncer de nouvelles économies
LE TEMPS: Le gouvernement de George Papandréou viserait 4,8 milliards d’économies supplémentaires, pour rassurer les marchés obligataires, Bruxelles et surtout l’Allemagne, encore réticente à lui accorder son aide

Face aux pressions de l’Union européenne et des investisseurs, le gouvernement grec s’apprête à annoncer quelque 4,8 milliards d’euros de réduction budgétaire en plus des engagements d’austérité qu’il a déjà pris.

Les nouvelles mesures d’économie influeraient notamment des taxes plus élevées sur le tabac, l’alcool, une augmentation de la TVA, et de nouvelles coupes dans les primes variables des fonctionnaires, a indiqué mardi une source gouvernementale. >>> Le Temps | Mardi 02 Mars 2010