Thousands march in Greece over austerity measures

ATHENS, (AFP) - Thousands marched in Greece on Wednesday against the government’s austerity policies amid a general strike as Prime Minister George Papandreou PM lobbied the EU for better loan repayment terms.

At least 36,000 people according to police demonstrated in Athens, Thessaloniki and the port of Piraeus to reject economic policies dictated by Greece’s narrow bankruptcy rescue by the EU and the IMF last year.

“We cannot take any more,” read a banner carried by the union representing civil servants, who have borne the brunt of wage and pension cuts imposed by the Socialist government of Papandreou.

Some 5,000 police were mobilised around the capital on Wednesday, reinforced from neighbouring cities, to maintain order.

The strike is the latest after months of labour unrest last year. Several protests against austerity have turned violent in the past. Three people died in May last year when a bank branch was firebombed in Athens.

Wednesday’s action paralysed maritime traffic and train services, disrupted urban transport in the capital and was set to cause a four-hour flight blackout from 1000 to 1400 GMT.

The industrial action has also affected hospitals and schools and shut down public administration offices and banks.

Journalists were also joining Wednesday’s strike while the National Trade Confederation called on members to close their shops.

The strike was called by Greece’s biggest private-sector and public sector unions GSEE and ADEDY, while the Communist Party-affiliated Pame trade union mounted a separate mobilisation.

The ADEDY is opposed to new cuts in state payrolls since those imposed last year, while the million-member strong GSEE is against Athens efforts to liberalise the economy, calling them “anti-social and anti-worker”.

“We demand a mixture of economic policy that will boost employment, incomes social and labour rights and social cohesion,” GSEE said.

“People and their needs are above profits and numbers,” it said, accusing the government’s measures of “broadening recession, unemployment, poverty and degradation to the profit of industrialists and bankers.”Seven general strikes were held last year over tough spending cuts imposed in return for a 110-billion-euro ($150 billion) loan from the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.

The cuts have pushed debt-hit Greece into a deepening recession with many analysts doubting whether its ailing economy can keep up with its loan obligations.

Papandreou has embarked on a European trip to convince eurozone peers to extend Greece’s repayment of the EU-IMF bailout loan.

He was in Berlin on Tuesday for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other party leaders and was to fly to Helsinki on Wednesday to confer with Finnish counterpart Mari Kiviniemi.

The IMF has warned that Athens must accelerate structural reforms, including to the labour market, the tourism trade and the retail sector.

The Greek government has given the green light for a five-year privatisation plan to raise 50 billion euros through the exploitation of state companies and other assets.