Greek riot police fired teargas at protesters in Athens today just hours before legislators were to begin debating a sweeping pension reform to help tackle the country's huge debt crisis.
About 10,000 people took part in marches across Athens during a nationwide strike - well down from the 50,000 in the biggest demonstration against austerity measures needed to secure a €110 billion bailout from the European Union and the IMF.
"Burn parliament! Burn parliament!" a group of about 150 black-hooded youths shouted as they threw sticks, stones, bottles and petrol bombs at police guarding the building in central Athens.
Police fired teargas to disperse most of the crowd protesting during the fifth joint strike called by public and private sector unions this year. Banks and local media were shut, hospitals operated with emergency staff and public offices were mostly closed. Businesses in central Athens rolled down their metal shutters but many elsewhere were open as usual.
"We have again taken to the streets. we are striking we are resisting the slaughtering of our rights," said Ilias Vrettakos, a vice president of the main public sector union.
Some tourists, a sector accounting for almost a fifth of Greece's GDP, were exasperated by the cancellation of some ferries to islands. About 60 domestic flights were also cancelled but international flights were unaffected. The Acropolis in Athens was open for visitors.
The socialist government, which has 157 seats of 300 in parliament, was to begin preliminary consideration of an overhaul of pensions later on Tuesday. It will raise women's retirement age from 60 to match men on 65 and demand more years at work to qualify for a pension.
The government says the reforms of the creaking system are essential to stave off bankruptcy for Greece, where debt has reached 133 percent of GDP in 2010.
Participation in protests has waned, partly as Athenians escape to the islands for summer holidays. Unions representing about 2.5 million workers, half the workforce, back the strike.
On the big May 5th protest, three people were killed in the fire-bombing of an Athens bank. About 25,000 people turned out for the last similar strike on May 20th.
The repeated strikes, protests that have sometimes turned violent and a rise in small bomb attacks since riots in 2008 have hurt tourism, which accounts for nearly a fifth of Greece's €240 billion economy. A senior official was killed last week by a booby-trapped bomb.
But economists said the strike was far from shutting down the economy and that it was hard to estimate the drain on GDP.
Reuters