Strike and violent protests in Greece

Demonstrator kicks away tear gas canister outside the Parliament in central Athens, during a rally against plans for new austerity measures, Wednesday, June 15, 2011. A 24-hour strike by Greece"s largest labor unions is set to cripple public services Wednesday, as the Socialist government begins a legislative battle to push through last-ditch cost cutting reforms that will exceed its own term in office. Demonstrators had camped outside the parliament since May 25, 2011.

About 20,000 protesters demonstrated yesterday before the Parliament of Athens, against the new austerity measures taken by the Greek government, which have also caused the beginning of a 24-hour general strike.

The protesters fought the police, which used tear gas.

The ports, banks, hospitals and state owned companies in Greece ceased operations for the entire day, as the main two union confederations in the country protested the austerity measures and privatization planned by the Government led by PM George Papandreou. The activity of ferry- boats and public transportation was frozen yesterday. Some policemen and journalists also stopped work yesterday.

ADEDY, the largest union of public sector employees in Greece, and GSEE the largest private sector union were the initiators of the action - the third general strike this year.

"We are demanding the waiving of these tough and unfair measures imposed by the government, at the request of our creditors", the representatives of the GSEE said.

The government led by Papandreou wants to obtain 78 billion Euros (113 billion dollars) by lowering public spending and selling state owned assets. Yesterday, the Parliament of Athens began debating the new austerity measures which would allow savings of 28 billion Euros, which will supplement the target of 50 billion Euros expected to come from privatizations.

The measures taken by the authorities of Athens include among others, tax hikes and cutting wages in the public sector.

The authorities of Athens are hoping that in this way they will obtain additional financial aid after the package of 110 billion Euros that the EU, the IMF and the ECB provided them with in 2010.

"The government bears the responsibility of rescuing the country from bankruptcy", the spokesperson of the Athens government, George Petalotis said.

Protesters before the parliament said: "The parliament will be their prison. We are resolute!"

Protesters have been camped before the Parliament for 21 days, and the largest protest took place on June 5th, when 50,000 people assembled, according to the local police.

Greek unionists oppose the plan to sell the state"s holdings in public companies.

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The Euro depreciated yesterday on the foreign markets, amid fears caused by the situation of Greece. In New York, the exchange rate of the Euro was 1.4296 dollars 09.55, down 1% over the previous day.

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The Greek Central Bank wants to request the performing of an independent review of the loan portfolios of Greek banks, a review which is expected to be completed in December, in cooperation with the EU, the IMF and the ECB. "One company internationally acknowledged will be hired by the Bank of Greece to perform a review of the banks" loan portfolios. Based on the results of the investigation, the Bank of Greece will ask banks to set up capital reserves until the end of September 2012", a Greek official quoted by the foreign media said, on condition of anonymity.

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The European Commission expects Greece to receive in July the next tranche of 12 billion Euros of the aid package of the EU and the IMF.

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The European Commission pays attention to the social aspects of the austerity measures passed by Greece, says Amadeu Altafaj, spokesperson to the European Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, referring to the strikes and protests of Greece. "The situation in this country has been our main concern since the beginning of the crisis", Altafaj said.