Greece: Teargas and anger before crucial debts vote

Thousands of Greeks brave police teargas to march against austerity measures, as protesters vow to continue the ‘big battle’ There is a ritual to Greek rallies. They start out quiet, then get rowdy, and then violent. this ritual jumped gear when violence broke out before the rowdy stage as thousands marched against austerity in Athens during a general strike triggered by tomorrow’s parliamentary vote on some of the toughest economic measures in modern Greek history. Witnesses said it began on Filellinon street just after midday. “Without any provocation riot police began firing off rounds of teargas,” said Fotis Fieris, a student holding a handkerchief to his mouth. “They fired and fired until we had to disperse.” So ferocious was the volley that soon pungent smoke had wafted down through the alleys of Plaka, the ancient district beneath the Acropolis, sending teary-eyed tourists running for cover. By then, the action had moved to Syntagma Square, site of the Greek parliament and seat of the people’s assembly, the body behind the growing movement of “indignant citizens” that has been the focus of protests for the past month. Within minutes the square resembled a battlezone, plumes of acrid smoke rising from burning rubbish bins as youths in bandanas, hoods and crash helmets lobbed marble slabs, rocks, broken bits of pavement, incendiary devices – anything they could find – at police. “Our aim,” said Pavlos Antonopoulos, a ponytailed teacher who had marched through Syntagma Square with thousands of trade unionists hours before, “is to demonstrate peacefully. “If there is violence it may well be deliberately provoked because we have heard that the aim of the government is to clear the square before Wednesday’s vote on the measures. “That’s when we will fight the big battle, when we will try to blockade the parliament, when we will do everything humanly possible to stop parliamentarians voting through the measures.” A new spirit is stalking Greece. Chaos, too, is also present amid power cuts (engineered by militant trade unionists protesting the partial privatization of the public power corporation), lawlessness and a growing sense that the debt-stricken country is not only headed for economic collapse but social disarray. Increasingly, Greeks fear there is no one to turn to, no leader or moral authority that they can trust. In the absence of hope, solidarity has grown. Eighteen months after the crisis erupted and barely a year after Athens received €110bn in emergency loans – in exchange for draconian budget cuts and reforms — Greeks are united as never before in the battle against further austerity. Many believe the latest €28bn package of spending cuts, privatisations and tax increases – deemed vital if Greece is to secure further aid from the EU and IMF – will wipe out society’s great connector, the middle class. “After a year of austerity where have we got?” asked Antonopoulos, who in 1990 staged a 25-day hunger strike in an attempt to improve teachers’ rights and standards in schools. “What have politicians done to earn this debt? We live in a country with no productive base, whose economy is in tatters, which after 30 years as a signed-up member of Europe has no infrastructure to speak of. That’s why we’re now demanding that the government goes, that the debt be written off and that Greece leaves the EU. Otherwise generations will be forced to live under a regime of austerity on the poverty line.” At 61, the wiry teacher embodies the people power now surging through Syntagma Square. Unsettlingly for the government, his views appear to be echoed by an ever greater number of Greeks. Olli Rehn, the EU’s economic affairs chief, made it clear that if the radical measures were not ratified by Athens’s 300-member parliament, there was “no plan B”. After a year of Greece’s failing to deliver on promised reforms, mandarins in Brussels are too mistrustful. Greece would not receive the next infusion of cash – €12bn crucial to paying wages and pensions in the coming month – and would automatically default on its €355bn (about £320bn) debt pile, he said. “The only way to avoid immediate default is for parliament to endorse the revised economic programme … they must be approved if the next tranche of financial assistance is to be released.” There is a growing consensus that the measures will be passed. Despite the chorus of criticism from austerity-weary MPs in the ruling socialist party, sources close to prime minister George Papandreou said they were confident that when the vote is held, dissidents would rally and “do the right thing.” “They know that the country’s future hangs on it and they know that if Greece goes under it will throw Europe into unprecedented financial turmoil,” one aide said. But even if the measures are passed, the battle will be only partly won. The real fight begins when the government actually starts streamlining the country’s profligate public sector and implementing the sort of reforms now viewed as urgent if Greece is to catch up with the rest of the western world. “The measures will pass but the government’s victory will be pyrrhic,” said Nikos Dimou, author of the bestselling The Misfortune to be Greek. “The challenges ahead are enormous.” Greece European debt crisis European banks Europe Economics Global economy Helena Smith guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 28, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.