Greece hit by general strike over state job cuts
18 July 2013 6:32 PM GMT
Unions opposing austerity measures in Greece staged their fourth general strike this year on Tuesday, as the government prepared to start axing public sector jobs. Several thousand protesters, most wearing caps to shield themselves from the midsummer heat, joined a march to parliament, as the 24-hour walkout disrupted flights, public transport, state hospitals and other services.
More demonstrations are planned later in the day, while local government offices remain closed for a second day.
Although the march ended peacefully, protest organizers directed angry rhetoric at the government and the ‘troika’ of debt inspectors from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. ‘You politicians, kowtowing to the troika, have raped our souls, destroyed our lives. Do not test our patience any longer ... We are hungry, jobless and poor. We have nothing to fear and nothing to lose,’ Nikolaos Kioutsoukis, general secretary of Greece’s largest union GSEE, said.
More demonstrations are planned later in the day, while local government offices remain closed for a second day.
Although the march ended peacefully, protest organizers directed angry rhetoric at the government and the ‘troika’ of debt inspectors from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. ‘You politicians, kowtowing to the troika, have raped our souls, destroyed our lives. Do not test our patience any longer ... We are hungry, jobless and poor. We have nothing to fear and nothing to lose,’ Nikolaos Kioutsoukis, general secretary of Greece’s largest union GSEE, said.
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