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Strike grips Greece over new austerity cuts

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ATHENS:  Thousands of Greeks demonstrated on Wednesday against a new round of austerity cuts in a 24-hour general strike that disrupted travel and shut down public services. Around 12,000 people took part in separate protests in Athens and another 6,000 in Thessaloniki according to police, a day before the measures are to be approved by parliament. During the Athens protest, hooded youths smashed the windows of a TV van and threw a firebomb at police, who responded with bursts of tear gas.


The walkout cut off maritime traffic for a second day while dozens of flights had to be cancelled or rescheduled and hospitals ran on emergency staff.


“We want to send a decisive message to the government, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund that we will not let them cut up our lives,” Alekos Perrakis, a senior member of Communist union PAME, told reporters. The mobilisation is aimed against new pension and tax break cuts forced on Greece by its EU-IMF creditors in return for bailout cash.


Overall, the bill to be approved on Thursday night entails 4.9 billion euros ($5.4 billion) in cuts in 2018-2021, state agency ANA said. The leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras grudgingly accepted to legislate another round of pension cuts and lower tax breaks — applicable in 2019 and 2020 respectively — to unlock the cash payment ahead of looming debt repayments in July.  The tax break cut on its own “is tantamount to losing one-and-a-half (months’) salary,” Perrakis said. — AFP


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