ATHENS/MADRID: Demonstrators clashed with police on the streets of Athens and Madrid yesterday in an upsurge of popular anger at new austerity measures being imposed on two of the eurozone’s most vulnerable economies.
In some of the most violent confrontations, Greek police fired tear gas at hooded rioters hurling petrol bombs as thousands joined the country’s biggest protest in more than a year.
The unrest erupted after nearly 70,000 people marched to the Greek parliament chanting “EU, IMF Out!” on the day of a general strike against further cuts demanded by foreign lenders.
“We can’t take it anymore - we are bleeding. We can’t raise our children like this,” said Dina Kokou, a 54-year-old teacher and mother of four who lives on ¤1,000 a month. In Madrid, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy faced violence on the streets of the capital and growing talk of secession in Catalonia as he moves cautiously closer to asking Europe for a bailout.
In public, Rajoy has been resisting calls to move quickly to request assistance, but behind the scenes he is putting together the pieces to meet the stringent conditions that will accompany rescue funds. Rajoy presents a tough 2013 budget today, aiming to send a message that Spain is doing its deficit-cutting homework despite a recession and 25 percent unemployment.
Spain appears on course to miss its public deficit target of 6.3 percent of gross domestic product this year, and the central bank said the economy continued to contract sharply in the third quarter. Rajoy is facing intense pressure from eurozone policymakers to take tougher measures, particularly on freezing pensions.
His fellow eurozone struggler, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, also faced a major test, in the shape of a 24-hour strike called by the country’s two biggest unions. Ships stayed in port, museums and monuments were shut and air traffic controllers walked off the job. Trains and flights were suspended, public offices and shops were shut, and hospitals provided a reduced service.
Union anger is directed at spending cuts worth nearly ¤12bn ($16bn) over the next two years that Greece has promised the European Union and IMF in an effort to secure its next tranche of aid. The bulk of those cuts is expected to come from cutting wages, pensions and welfare benefits, heaping a new wave of misery on Greeks who say repeated rounds of austerity have pushed them to the brink and failed to transform the country for the better.
Reuters
