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Greeks stage new protest on eve of eurozone bailout meeting
Several thousand banner-waving protesters staged rallies in Athens and Thessaloniki on Sunday to protest budget cuts as ministers prepare to approve a new 130-billion-euro bailout for debt-crippled Greece.
Hundreds of police shadowed the latest demonstrations, held a week after parliament passed new austerity measures that sparked violence in which gangs of rioters torched dozens of buildings in the Greek capital.
Youths on Sunday threw stones, flares and bottles at a cordon of riot police guarding the parliament building. Police answered back with bursts of tear gas.
The police had earlier detained 60 protesters and shut down three central metro stations, a measure criticised by protest organisers as disruptive to participation.
Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos left for Brussels where he was to hold talks with officials ahead of Monday's crucial meeting of eurozone ministers, his office said.
A European source told AFP that Papademos would also attend the Eurogroup meeting, while a meeting with global bank representatives was also possible.
"There might be a need for a final meeting between the Greek government and the Institute of International Finance," a finance ministry source said, referring to the bank lobby group which has headed weeks of talks on a massive write-down of Greek debt.
"Many parallel and critical consultations are taking place, at various levels, with European institutions, the IMF and member-states and an immediate exchange of information is called for," the ministry source added.
"There might be a need for some very important decisions for the country and the prime minister and finance minister must be able to reach agreement immediately," the source said.
About 1,500 people joined a rally called by Greece's private and public sector unions, while about 2,000 gathered for a second protest sponsored by left-wing radical parties to call for an "uprising" against the government.
"We will come every day if need be," said Xenia Amaricoulou, a drugstore vendor in her forties.
"They up there (pointing to the parliament) should be aware we are not accepting any measures that would take us futher down."
"Why should we be punished for something that we haven't done? I earn my salary, believe me, I don't know whether our politicians earn a single cent," she said.
A similar protest took place in Greece's second city Thessaloniki.
Despite the harsh austerity measures demanded by Greece's international creditors to stave off bankrupcty, an opinion poll found that 76 percent of Greeks backed the nation's European outlook and did not want to leave the euro.
But it also found that almost 82 percent of Greeks blamed their governments for the country's deep economic woes.
The latest government measures include a 22-percent cut in the minimum wage, while pensions of more than 1,300 euros ($1,700) a month will be slashed by 12 percent, further adding to the economic hardship of ordinary Greeks.
Unions reject what they brand "unacceptable demands" set by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, saying they violate workers' rights and collective agreements.
But EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said Greece should focus on getting itself out of its economic mess.
"I wish the Greeks would concentrate on rebuilding their state rather than blaming scapegoats outside Greece for their plight," Reding, who is also vice-president of the European Commission, told the Austrian daily Kurier.
The latest Greek cuts are aimed at reviving the nation's moribund economy -- which is battling a 350-billion-euro debt mountain -- by making businesses more attractive to investors and reducing the size of the parallel economy.
The measures, which total 3.2 billion euros, were drawn up in return for the new bailout, which eurozone finance ministers are due to finalise in Brussels Monday to try to save Greece from bankruptcy and a possible exit from the euro.
On Saturday, the cabinet approved cuts that made up a 350-million-euro shortfall in the package. A senior official told AFP in Brussels last week however that a 5.5-billion-euro hole remained.
The second bailout deal would write off 100 billion euros of debt and provide a loan of 130 billion euros to Greece, which already received a 110-billion-euro rescue approved in May 2010.
Time is of the essence for Papademos's government because without the bailout Greece will be unable to meet a bond repayment of 14.5 billion euros on March 20.
EU partners see Greece as the victim of chronic financial mismanagement by dynastic political forces -- what Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti last week called a "perfect catalogue" of errors.
"I am confident they (the finance ministers) will agree on the package," Reding said, echoing comments by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
