Greek protesters unfurled banners yesterday over the defensive walls of the ancient Acropolis, the country’s most famous monument, to protest harsh new austerity measures as strikes began across the country.
About 100 protesters from the Greek Communist Party cut through locks on the gates of the major tourist attraction shortly after dawn and spread 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.
PHOTO: AFP
The demonstrators did not attempt to prevent tourists from visiting the site.
“This is a message to the people of Europe,” said Communist Party official Panagiotis Papageorgopoulos, who was among the protesters. “People have the same problems everywhere. We can take control of our fate with organized protests, so that our lives are not run by the EU and the IMF.”
Greece’s cash-strapped government announced sweeping spending cuts worth 30 billion euros (US$40 billion) through 2012 on Sunday, in order to secure a vital rescue package of loans from the IMF and the other 15 EU countries using the euro as their currency.
The new measures, which were submitted in a draft bill to parliament yesterday and are to be voted on by the end of the week, will result in deeper cuts in pensions and public servants’ pay, and a new hike in consumer taxes.
Public servants, including state school teachers and hospital workers, began a 48-hour strike yesterday, with protest marches planned later in the day.
The strike led to several domestic flights by Greece’s Olympic Air and Aegean Airlines being canceled, while all flights to and from the country were to be grounded for 24 hours today as air traffic controllers join in a nationwide general strike.
Today’s strike is expected to shut down services across the country, with public transport halting in the morning and evening.
Union leaders say the cuts target low-income Greeks.
“There are other things the [government] can do, before taking money from a pensioner who earns 500 euros a month,” Spyros Papaspyros, leader of the public servants’ union ADEDY, said on TV.
Late on Monday, protesting school teachers forced their way into Greece’s state TV building, disrupting programming.
With debts of 300 billion euros and a budget deficit of 13.6 percent of GDP, Greece has been struggling to pull its finances in order and was less than three weeks away from default when the eurozone finance ministers agreed on Sunday to activate the three-year 110 billion euro eurozone and IMF rescue.
Athens needs to see the first installment of funds before May 19, when it has 8.5 billion euros worth of 10-year bonds maturing.
Yesterday morning, France’s lower house of parliament adopted a budget amendment allowing the government to release French funds for Greece’s bailout. The text must still go before the Senate, its final step in parliament. France has committed to providing up to 16.8 billion euros in its share of the three-year plan.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde had urged lawmakers to adopt the amendment, calling it a “moral imperative.”
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