Anger grows among Greeks over austerity measures

GREEKS HAVE taken to venting their frustration over the country’s economic plight by hurling yoghurt and verbal abuse at ruling socialist legislators.

Greek deputy development minister Socrates Xynides dived behind his police escort on Thursday night in the northern city of Larissa to avoid being splattered by voters for the second time this week.

The same evening, police blocked off streets in an Athens suburb to stop the Door-to-Door protest group from shouting insults outside the home of Christos Papoutsis, a former European commissioner who serves as citizens’ protection minister.

An escalation of such incidents since Greece’s parliament approved a fresh austerity package of tax increases and spending cuts in return for a second international bailout highlights the increasingly angry mood.

“One reason for this situation is that politicians haven’t managed to rebut the populist claim that they have stolen from the people and driven Greece into bankruptcy,” said Takis Michas, a social commentator.

The incidents have come as Greek lawmakers prepare to spend time in their constituencies during the summer break, attending cafe discussions, festivals and religious celebrations.

“My constituency team is worried about possible confrontations. I don’t expect to be spending time in the local restaurants with my family this summer,” said one deputy from a northern town, where walls have been plastered with pictures of socialist deputies labelled “Wanted Men”.

The government is showing signs of being rattled as more incidents occur in provincial towns where the socialists are used to holding sway over opinion.

Greek prime minister George Papandreou has called for a cross-party committee to protect “democratic institutions” to be set up. He warned that “instances of violence, whether organised or spontaneous, undermine democracy and may lead to greater violence and injustice for the citizens”.

He spoke the day after protesters burst into a local television studio in Trikala, a traditionally left-of-centre town in northern Greece, where Soula Merentiti, a socialist MP, was expected to defend the austerity programme.

Several socialist cabinet ministers have claimed that Syriza, a leftist political party led by Alexis Tsipras, is running a campaign of civil disobedience.

Syriza officials deny their supporters have been targeting prominent socialist politicians.

Dimitris Kollatos, a film and theatre director who founded Door-to-Door, said his supporters were “peaceful citizens who want to make a collective statement about something specific”.

The protest outside Mr Papoutsis’s house was intended to underline concerns about excessive measures used by the police to quell last week’s anti-austerity riots. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011)