Several thousand people marched peacefully through the main street of Lithuania's capital Vilnius on Saturday to protest against rising prices and demand higher wages and pensions.
Lithuanian consumer price inflation in October hit its highest since the end of 1997 at 7.6 percent on an annual basis due to gains in the cost of food and utility prices, the statistics office said.
"I spend more than half of my 670 litas pension for food and household services and there is little left for the medicine I need," Juozas, 68, from the western Lithuanian town of Jurbarkas said, declining to give his last name. Some protesters called on Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas, who leads a minority centre-left coalition government, to step down.
Police said 3,000-4,000 protesters took part in the march, organised by the country's major trade unions. The government has said it will cut the budget deficit to 0.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008, and balance the budget in 2009.
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