Violence flares in Athens over bailout
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/02/2012 (5306 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
ATHENS — Greece’s future in the eurozone came under renewed threat as popular protests again turned violent and dissent grew among its lawmakers after European leaders demanded deeper spending cuts.
The country’s beleaguered coalition government promised to push through the tough new austerity measures and rescue a crucial US$170 billion bailout deal after six members of the cabinet resigned.
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos promised Friday to “do everything necessary” to ensure parliament passes the new austerity measures that would slap Greeks with a minimum wage cut during a fifth year of recession. He also promised to replace any other cabinet members who did not back his efforts.
“It is absolutely necessary to complete the effort that began almost two years ago to consolidate public finances, restore competitiveness and economic recovery,” Papademos told an emergency cabinet meeting.
Draft legislation for the new austerity measures was submitted to parliament after the meeting ended.
In central Athens, clashes erupted Friday outside Parliament between dozens of hooded youths and police in riot gear. Police said eight officers and two members of the public were injured, while six suspected rioters were arrested.
The violence broke as more than 15,000 people took to the streets of the capital after unions launched a two-day general strike that disrupted transport and other public services and left state hospitals running on emergency staff.
Scores of youths, some in gas masks, used sledge hammers to smash marble paving stones in Athens’ main Syntagma Square before hurling the rubble at riot police.
Debt-stricken Greece does not have the money to cover a US$170 billion bond repayment on March 20, and must reach a vital debt-relief deal with private bond investors before then.
Papademos said the bailout and the deal with private creditors would return Greece to growth next year, and deliver a 4.5 per cent primary surplus in 2012 — better than an earlier official prediction of 1.1 per cent of gross domestic product.
“A disorderly default would cast our country into a catastrophic adventure. It would create conditions of uncontrollable economic chaos and social explosion,” he warned.
— The Associated Press