By Angelika Papamiltiadou

ATHENS (MNI) – Anti-austerity protests here turned violent this
afternoon as Prime Minister George Papandreou urged national unity
before heading into an emergency meeting with the president of the
Republic, Karolos Papoulias.

In Athens’ central Syntagma Square, police shot tear gas into a
huge crowd to try and break up the protests. The protesters, numbering
close to 100,000 by some estimates, were still encircling the Parliament
and blocking the access of MPs, who had planned to begin discussing the
government’s latest E28 billion deficit-cutting plan this morning.

Several MPs said they were attacked while trying to enter the
Parliament by demonstrators throwing bricks, stones and eggs. Meanwhile,
police clashed with demonstrators encircling the Greek Finance Ministry,
where there have been 40 arrests so far.

Papandreou asked for calm and urged a consensus across political
parties ahead of the debate on the government’s medium-term fiscal plan,
which includes new salary and pension cuts, tax increases on all income
levels, and a E50 billion privatization plan. Greece’s EU partners, as
well as the IMF and the ECB, have insisted that a new bailout package
for Athens currently being negotiated is conditional upon swift passage
of those new measures.

Shortly before meeting with Papoulias, Papandreou issued a
statement saying Greece was living through historical times that demand
“historical decisions.” He reiterated that his government “will proceed
with a sense of duty to take the decisions necessary to overcome the
crisis.”

He added that a “national consensus” is needed, implying that the
opposition parties will have to share the burden in case the fiscal plan
is rejected by Parliament.

The prime minister is expected to address the nation later in the
day. In addition to the street protests, workers in the public and
private sectors are on strike today to protest the new round of
austerity measures.

All opposition parties have said they will vote against the
government’s new plan.

But the government is also facing strong opposition from MPs in its
own party, one of whom unexpectedly defected last night, labelling the
new plan “cruel and unjust.” Now the Socialist government retains a
fragile majority of just four seats in Parliament. Press reports suggest
that around 10 more members of the ruling party are ready to resign or
defect and become independent, in protest against the new plan.

In such an event, and were the government unable to gain the
support of other parties, the country would likely head towards early
elections.

–Angelika Papamiltiadou, a_papamiltiadou@hotmail.com

[TOPICS: M$X$$$,M$$EC$,MT$$$$,MGX$$$,M$$CR$]