Greek anger brews over austerity measures (News Feature)

By Christine Pirovolakis May 6, 2010, 8:03 GMT

Athens - An eerie lull settled over the Greek capital Thursday, a day after violent riots against a new round of harsh austerity measures left three bank workers dead.

History, however, and the Greek national psyche's habitual dislike of being told what to do suggests a calm before the storm.

Greeks, already reeling from the effects of a recession, took to the streets Wednesday to protest against new taxes and government spending cuts to qualify for more than 110 billion euros (160 billion dollars) in bail-out loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and eurozone governments.

Anger over the measures aimed at saving the country from bankruptcy quickly flared out of control as rioters set fire to buildings and cars, destroyed shops and tried to storm parliament.

The remains of three people, including a pregnant woman, were discovered inside a torched bank in central Athens and at least 45 people, among them 29 police officers, suffered injuries.

The demonstrations came amid a 24-hour nationwide strike that grounded flights to and from Greece, paralysed sea and rail transport, shut down schools and government services and left hospitals operating with emergency staff.

With unions vowing for more protests in the next few weeks, the large-scale social unrest and violence is seen as a blow to the ruling Socialist government, which is trying to push through parliament a draft bill of the new austerity measures on Thursday.

The bill is expected to be passed easily as the government holds a comfortable majority in the 300-seat parliament.

Prime Minister George Papandreou has defended the measures, which foresee 30 billion euros in savings mainly from pension and wage cuts, saying his administration would do everything possible to protect the country from ruin.

Greece urgently needs the bail-out as it faces a May 19 due date on debt it says it cannot repay without the help.

'The only other alternative is to allow the government to go bankrupt and we will not allow this.'

While many Greeks say some of the cutbacks are needed to put their country back on track, public anger is expected to escalate as many people begin feeling the austerity measures' effects.

In recent polls one in two Greeks said they are prepared to take to the streets to fight the austerity plans.

'The government does not understand the extent of people's anger and frustration,' said Stelios Kanakis, a taxi driver. 'The situation will only get worse because many people believe that they have nothing to lose and nothing to hope for.'

Others believe the deaths, which shocked the public, could curtail the intensity of future demonstrations.

The Bankers Union said it would hold a one-day strike Thursday in memory of the dead bank employees and blamed the government for 'not taking into account the consequences which the measures will have on Greek citizens.'

Greece's main public sector union ADEDY said it would protest outside parliament Thursday and has also not ruled out further strikes next week in an effort to press the government to back down on its reforms.

'We will not abandon our fight against the measures,' ADEDY president Spiros Papaspyros said.

'The huge turnout today of people demonstrating has sent a clear message to the government that we will not allow the measures which the European Union and the IMF have imposed on our country to pass,' said Giorgo Bekouris, a part-time teacher who earns less than 450 euros a month.

Many commentators said Wednesday's events were a flashback to the 2008 riots which lasted for weeks following the police shooting of a teenager. They caused millions of euros in damage, and engulfed thousands of angry young Greeks whose future was already bleak due to the lack of jobs.

The EU had hoped that activating the three-year Greek rescue programme would calm markets and give the government leeway to overhaul the heavily indebted economy.

Renewed investor concerns that the Greek crisis could spread to other eurozone countries sent Europe's common currency to its lowest level in more than a year.

European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said it was absolutely essential to contain the fire in Greece so that it would not pose a threat to the financial stability of the European Union and its economy as a whole.