Striking dockers and protesters at Greece's largest ports blocked hundreds of tourists from returning to their ship today in a protest against reforms aimed at saving Greece's debt-ridden economy from deeper crisis.
In the first strike since Athens asked its euro zone peers and the International Monetary Fund for a bailout on Friday, sailors protested against one of the government's first measures to liberalise Greece's restrictive labour market.
The Coast Guard said around 400 dockers and protesters from the Communist union PAME prevented around 1,000 mostly Spanish passengers from returning to the Maltese-flagged ship Zenith.
"We had to take them to hotels," said Mihalis Nomikos, head Zenith's operator, Donomis. "We are waiting to see if they will be able to leave later today or early tomorrow morning. The impression we made on them was really bad."
Antonis Dalakogiorgos, head of the Panhellenic Sailors' Union, said the shipping reform, which allows non Greek cruise ships to moor at multiple Greek ports without hiring a Greek crew, was unacceptable.
"Lifting restrictions... will mean the end of Greek-flagged cruise shipping and the funeral of Greek sailors," he said.
Unrest has risen since Prime Minister George Papandreou's government cut public wages, froze pensions and raised taxes as part of a plan to slash the budget deficit by almost a third this year, from last year's 13.6 per cent of economic output.
Many Greeks are now bracing for more austerity, and media have reported that European Union officials and the IMF have proposed more than a dozen new steps to cut state spending and boost competitiveness.
Polls show government support is waning as the reforms take hold, although Mr Papandreou still leads in approval ratings.
Reuters