New demo planned over Greek suicide
Anti-austerity activists are planning new protests in Athens’ main square, where a pensioner shot himself dead leaving a suicide note that blasted politicians over the country’s financial crisis.
More than 1,500 people gathered at the spot hours after the suicide, chanting slogans and clashing with riot police.
Groups ranging from social media activists to schoolchildren have said they will join in the protests later today.
The 77-year-old retired pharmacist chose the morning rush hour to shoot himself in the head near a subway exit on Syntagma Square – a focal point for protests and a stone’s throw from Parliament.
In the note published by local media, the man said could he not survive on his pension and expected Greeks to take up arms and “hang traitors” in the square.
The prime minister and the heads of both parties backing Greece’s governing coalition expressed sorrow over the death.
“A pharmacist ought to be able to live comfortably on his pension,” said Vassilis Papadopoulos, a spokesman for the I Won’t Pay group. “So for him to reach the point of suicide out of economic hardship means a lot. It shows how the social fabric is unravelling.”
Greece has relied on international rescue loans since May 2010. To secure them, Athens implemented harsh austerity measures, slashing pensions and salaries while repeatedly raising taxes. But the belt-tightening worsened the recession and led to thousands of job losses that left one in five Greeks unemployed.
“As a Greek, I am truly shocked,” Dimitris Giannopoulos, an Athens doctor, said before the protest. “I am shocked because I see that (the government is) destroying my dignity ... and the only thing they care about are bank accounts.”
According to a text of the suicide note published by local media, the man said the government had made it impossible for him to survive on the pension he had paid into for 35 years. “I find no other solution than a dignified end before I start searching through the trash for food,” read the note. Police did not confirm whether it was genuine.
Greece has seen an increase in suicides over the past two years of economic hardship, during which the country repeatedly teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.
Dozens of written messages had been pinned to the tree under which the man shot himself, some reading: “It was a murder, not a suicide,” and “Austerity kills.”
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos issued a statement as protesters gathered at the site of the suicide.
“It is tragic for one of our fellow citizens to end his life,” he said. “In these difficult hours for our society we must all – the state and the citizens - support the people among us who are desperate.”
