Greek protests turn to violence
Police fired tear gas to push back protesters trying to blockade Greece’s parliament today as the struggling government launched a debate on new cutbacks needed to secure international rescue loans.
Scuffles broke out between riot police and small groups of demonstrators as more than 20,000 protesters thronged the centre of the Athens.
The clashes came as Prime Minister George Papandreou met the country’s president to discuss Greece’s severe debt crisis.
Groups of youths on the edge of the protest threw stones and firebombs at police outside parliament.
Other demonstrators who had been part of the previously peaceful gathering also clashed with the violent groups of hooded youths, trying to eject them from their rally.
The rally and two demonstrations which fed into it were part of a 24-hour general strike against the new cutbacks, which the country must pass in order to continue receiving funding from a €110bn international bailout that is preventing it from defaulting on its debts.
A large part of central Athens was closed to all traffic and pedestrians as police mounted a huge security operation to allow MPs access to parliament.
Around 5,000 officers, including hundreds of riot and motorcycle police, used parked buses and crowd barriers to prevent protesters from encircling the building.
“Resign, resign,” the crowd chanted. The protesters included both young and old, and many brought their children, hoisting them onto their shoulders to shield them from the crush.
Such marches have often turned violent in the past, and three clerks died when rioters torched their bank during a mass demonstration in Athens last May.
