Emergency staff ran hospitals, schools closed and thousands of austerity-weary Greeks took to the streets on Thursday in a 24-hour general strike that tested the resolve of a national unity government. Chanting "Get out, take the budget and get out of here!", Greeks poured into the square in front of parliament to protest a new dose of austerity medicine prescribed by foreign lenders as the price for bailout loans.
European leaders approved an 8 billion euro ($10.8 billion) tranche of aid this week to prevent Greece, now led by technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, from going bankrupt. Unions representing about 2.5 million people - around half of the national workforce - called the strike to protest a new round of tax hikes and spending cuts in store for Greeks already reeling from layoffs, lower pensions and salary cuts. "They are killing us. They are killing workers. They are killing the Greek spirit," said Evangelos Routsas, a 55-year-old protester. "We are here to tell them we won't be silent."
The measures are part of Greece's 2012 budget due to be approved by parliament next week.
"Enough is enough. We have taken to the streets to say that this budget is an austerity budget - a starvation budget - which must not be passed," Christos Kiosis, a union chief at Athens water utility EYDAP, told NET TV.
A series of strikes this year have added to the debt-choked country's troubles. A 48-hour stoppage in October degenerated into violence with clashes between rival groups and police but Thursday's rallies ended peacefully without incident. The sour public mood over austerity has been tempered by knowledge that elections are around the corner in February, after former Prime Minister George Papandreou was forced to relinquish power last month.
Shops and businesses in central Athens were open, but public services faced disruption. Piraeus port, the country's largest, was affected while trains, buses and trams halted services in the morning ahead of further stoppages in the evening.
Police said about 14,000 demonstrators had gathered in central Athens but unions put the number at more than 20,000. It was one of the most peaceful protests since the debt crisis gripped Greece about two years ago and the marchers dispersed peacefully by early afternoon. With the aid tranche virtually secured - it is expected to be released after International Monetary Fund approval next week - Papademos's focus now shifts to pushing the budget through parliament. The package aims to reduce the budget deficit to 6.7 percent of GDP next year from 9 percent this year, a task made harder by a deep recession now in its fourth year in Greece.