Update:
Killing for the right to bludge off the state
Andrew Bolt
People are being murdered by Leftists determined to protect unaffordable rorts and perks that are bankrupting Greece:
A FIRE-BOMB attack on a bank in Athens left at least three people dead as police fought pitched battles with striking protesters furious at brutal spending cuts designed to avoid national bankruptcy.
Hooded youths hurled petrol bombs at stores and businesses in the Greek capital, setting the bank and two government buildings ablaze…
Athens underground stations were shuttered and the international airport deserted as tens of thousands of union members rallied on the eve of a vote in parliament on the planned cuts and tax hikes… Hundreds of thousands of civil servants kicked off the protests and a group of about 200 communists also stormed Athens Acropolis, unfurling banners reading “Peoples of Europe, Rise Up”.
The “anti-austerity” riots in Greece
Last March, I spotlighted the rule of the mob in Britain and the spread of left-wing vigilantes across Europe. Big Labor bosses in the U.S. have expressed solidarity for their union brethren’s “struggle” and helped foment chaos. May Day mayhem took hold here — and abroad.
Greece is still under siege. Michelle Malkin has more>>
3 killed in bank fire during riots as Greeks demonstrate/Business News
ATHENS, Greece — Greek fire officials say three people have died in a blaze that broke out at an Athens bank during rioting over government austerity measures.
An estimated 100,000 people took to the streets Wednesday during a nationwide wave of strikes against spending cuts aimed at saving the country from bankrupty.
Protesters were hurling Molotov cocktails at police and buildings. At least two buildings were on fire, while hundreds of people were involved in the clashes.
The government agreed to drastic budget cuts to win bailout loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Protesters were hurling Molotov cocktails at police and buildings. At least two buildings were on fire, while hundreds of people were involved in the clashes.
The government agreed to drastic budget cuts to win bailout loans fromthe European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Protestors tried to storm Greece’s parliament and hurled paving stones and Molotov cocktails at police, who responded with tear gas Wednesday as tens of thousands of outraged Greeks took to the streets to protest harsh new spending cuts aimed at saving their country from bankruptcy.
Running street battles broke out in the Greek capital, where demonstrators chanting “thieves, thieves” attempted to break through a riot police cordon guarding Parliament and chased the ceremonial guards away from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the building.
Extensive clashes followed, with hundreds of people battering store fronts and smashing paving stones to throw at the police, who responded with stun grenades and volleys of tear gas that left clouds of the chemicals hovering over central Syntagma Square.
Protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at police and at buildings. A bank on one of Athens’ main avenues went up in flames, and two women trapped in the building stood on a second-floor balcony, their faces blackened with soot as firefighters attempted to reach them with ladders.
The demonstrations in Athens were some of the largest in recent years, with some estimates putting the crowd at about 60,000 people.Government officials put the number at above 25,000.
Violence also broke out in the northern city of Thessaloniki, where another 20,000 people marched through the city center, with youths smashing windows of stores and fast food restaurants.
The outpouring of anger appeared much more spontanous than the frequent set piece battles between police and anarchist youths who often spark violence during Greek demonstrations.
The marches came amid a 24-hour nationwide general strike that grounded all flights to and from Greece, shut down ports, schools andgovernment services and left hospitals working with emergency medical staff. The Acropolis and all other ancient sites were closed, while journalists also walked off the job, suspending television and radio news broadcasts.
Prime Minister George Papandreou on Sunday announced draconian austerity measures, including cuts in salaries and pensions for civil servants, and another round of consumer tax increases, to pull his heavily indebted country away from the brink of default.
Union reaction until now had been relatively muted by Greece’s volatile standards, although the country has been hit by a series of strikes. The opposition conservatives — whom Papandreou’s Socialists have blamed for mismanaging the economy and fudging statistics during their five years in power — trail the Socialists by 10 percentage points in recent opinion polls.
But anger has mounted after the announcement of new austerity measures, which were essential to unlock a euro110 billion rescue package in loans from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel urged parliament to quickly pass the country’s share of at keep Greece from defaulting and preventingAthens’ debt crisis from becoming a wider crisis for the euro by engulfing other financially troubled countries such as Spain and Portugal.
Skepticism that the plan would accomplish that goal of preventing market contagion sent the euro below $1.30 for the first time in over a year.
Germany, as Europe’s largest economy, will provide euro8.4 billion in 2010 and up to euro14 billion more over 2011 and 2012 according to the plan.
“Nothing less than the future of Europe, and with that the future of Germany in Europe, is at stake,” Merkel told lawmakers. “We are at a fork in the road.”
Greek unions concede that the cash-strapped government was forced to increase consumer taxes and slash spending, including cutting salaries and pensions for civil servants, to secure a vital euro110 billion ($144 billion) three-year loan package from European partners and theInternational Monetary Fund.
But they say low-income Greeks will suffer disproportionately from the measures, which aim to save euro30 billion ($40 billion) — the country’s current budget deficit — through 2012.
“These people are losing their rights, they are losing their future,” said Yiannis Panagopoulos, head of GSEE, one of the two largest union organizations. “The country cannot surrender without a fight.”
Markets have been far from assured that the package will douse Europe’s smoldering sovereign debt crisis, which many fear could spread to other financially troubled eurozone countries such as Portugal and Spain.
IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned that the crisis could spread to other countries despite the rescue package’s efforts to contain it.
“Everyone must remain extremely vigilant,” to this risk, Strauss-Kahn said in an interview published in French newspaper Le Parisien Wednesday.
He said Greek anger at the harsh spending cuts was understandable.
“I completely understand the Greek populations’ anger, its incomprehension at the size of the economic catastrophe,” Strauss-Kahn said. But Greeks must also understand that without these measures, “the situation would be infinitely more serious,” he said.
But those who are feeling the crunch are outraged that they have to pay for what they see as politicians’ mismanagement of their country’s economy.
“We’ll be on the streets every day, every day! You never win unless you fight,” said 76-year-old Constantinos Doganis, who gets euro345 a month from his farming pension fund.
“It’s our fault too, all the mistakes made by politicians over 30 years, all the people who cheat on their taxes,” he said. “But they are behaving like buzzards — the Germans borrow money at 3 percent and then lend it to us for 5. Why?”
Despite the strike, the draft bill of the new austerity measures were to be discussed at committee level in Parliament Wednesday afternoon, and are to be voted on Thursday. Prime Minister George Papandreou’s Socialists hold a comfortable majority of 160 in the 300-seat Parliament, and with a simple majority of 151 votes needed, the bill is expected to be passed easily.
Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greg Keller in Paris and APTN crews in Athens contributed.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Three people, working for a living, murdered in a horrible way by a piece of S___, who threw a fire bomb into their office. It is probably one of these useless and brain dead anarchists, but irrespective of whom it was, I hope the police do their utmost to find the thug.
Local anarchists here are rejoicing about what is happening in Greece. Why aren’t these groups getting more publicity?
Theresaj,
Anarchists are as low on the evolutionary scale as are islamists … lazy, incompetent cowards who can only destroy and take, offering nothing useful , only violence.
Kaw,
They are seriously into brainwashing young people. An Irish anarchist has recently been touring Austraia and NZ.
I am never sure how to react when they are blithering on about women’s rights and then in the next breath inviting people to a ramadan feast..they actively support muslims and encourage young people to believe that muslims are great.
Be careful about painting all anarchists with the same brush. Many of them are honest hard-working citizens themselves, fighting against Globalism and the New World Order, which is going destroy our personal liberties and turn us all into slaves.
Very few, if any, of these anarchists support murdering anyone.
Great.
Could you sort ‘em out for us?
StopTheGlobalWarmingLies,
Bullshit!!!!