ATHENS (MNI) – Violence in the streets of Athens and elsewhere in
Greece escalated Wednesday afternoon after Parliament passed a highly
unpopular package of spending cuts and tax increases, according to Greek
media reports.
Parts of Athens had already been engulfed in chaos since Wednesday
when public and private sector workers launched a two-day general strike
and protesters took to the streets, clashing with police in sometimes
fierce confrontations.
According to Greek media accounts, those scenes have intensified
since the vote today. In Athens’ central Syntagma Square, rioters have
set fire to garbage cans and are throwing rocks and bottles at police,
who have responded with tear gas so thick that people in the area are
having trouble breathing.
So far, sixteen people have been hospitalized and 28 arrested. All
streets around the square and in Athens’ city center are closed. The
King George Hotel in central Athens has been evacuated because of
concerns about the tear gas and general violence of the atmosphere
surrounding it, the reports said.
On the Greek island of Crete, party offices of the ruling Socialist
Party were taken over by angry protesters, who destroyed virtually
everything they found inside, including computers, televisions and
archives. They also wrote anti-Socialist slogans on the walls.
According to the media, the protests and rioting is expected to
continue today and tomorrow, as the Greek Parliament gears up for
another important vote Thursday on implementation of the measures whose
content it approved today.
–Angelika Papamiltiadou, a_papamiltiadou@hotmail.com
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