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Fire Bombs, Bottles, and Marble: See Intense Pictures of the Latest Anti-Austerity Violence in Greece

Oct. 18, 2012 8:31am Jonathon M. Seidl

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Hundreds of youths pelted riot police with petrol bombs, bottles and chunks of marble Thursday as yet another Greek anti-austerity demonstration descended into violence.

Tens of thousands of people took to the street during the country’s second general strike in a month as workers across the country walked off the job to protest new austerity measures the government is negotiating with Greece’s international creditors.

The measures for 2013-14, worth (EURO)13.5 billion ($17.7 billion), aim to prevent the country from going bankrupt and potentially having to leave the 17-nation eurozone.

Riot police responded with volleys of tear gas and stun grenades in the capital’s Syntagma Square outside Parliament as protesters scattered during the clashes, which continued on and off for about an hour.

Four demonstrators were injured after being hit by police, volunteer paramedics said.

Hundreds of police had been deployed in the Greek capital ahead of the demonstration, as such protests often turn violent.

However, a protest march by about 17,000 people in the northern city of Thessaloniki ended peacefully.

Thursday’s strike was timed to coincide with a European Union summit in Brussels later in the day, at which Greece’s economic fate will likely feature large.

The strike grounded flights, shut down public services, closed schools, hospitals and shops and hampered public transport in the capital. Taxi drivers joined in for nine hours, while a three-hour work stoppage by air traffic controllers led to flight cancellations. Islands were left cut off as ferries stayed in ports.

Athens has seen hundreds of anti-austerity protests over the past three years, since Greece revealed it had been misreporting its public finance figures. With confidence ravaged and austerity demanded, the country has sunk into a deep economic recession that has many of the same hallmarks of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

“We are sinking in a swamp of recession and it’s getting worse,” said Dimitris Asimakopoulos, head of the GSEVEE small business and industry association. “180,000 businesses are on the brink and 70,000 of them are expected to close in the next few months.”

Higher taxes expected to be levied in the new austerity program will destroy many of the struggling businesses that have managed to weather three years of the crisis so far, he said.

“In 2011, only 20 percent of businesses were profitable. So these new tax measures present small businesses with a choice: Dodge taxes or close your shop.”

The country is surviving with the help of two massive international bailouts worth a total (EURO)240 billion ($315 billion). To secure them, it has committed to drastic spending cuts, tax hikes and reforms, all with the aim of getting the state coffers back under some sort of control.

But while significantly reducing the country’s annual borrowing, the measures have made the recession worse. By the end of next year, the Greek economy is expected to be around a quarter of the size it was in 2008. And with one in four workers out of a job, Greece has, along with Spain, the highest unemployment rate in the 27-nation European Union.

The country’s four-month-old coalition government is negotiating a new austerity package with debt inspectors from the EU, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank. The idea is to save (EURO)11 billion ($14.4 billion) in spending – largely on pensions and health care – and raise an extra (EURO)2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) through taxes.

After more than a month and a half of arguing, a deal seems close. On Wednesday, representatives from the EU, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank, said there was agreement on “most of the core measures needed to restore the momentum of reform” and that the rest of the issues should be resolved in coming days.

Greece is also seeking a two-year extension to its economic recovery program, due to end in 2014. Without the extension, it would need to take (EURO)18 billion worth of measures instead of the (EURO)13.5 it is currently negotiating.

Athens hopes to get the next loan installment around mid-November. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has said the country will run out of cash by the end of that month, meaning Greece would most likely have to default on its debt and potentially end its membership of the euro currency.

—

Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, and Elena Becatoros and Nicholas Paphitis in Athens contributed.

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Comments (40)

jackact
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:57pm
Fellow Blaze patriots, do not post commentary on any Jonathan Siedel story.
He, and his elitist neo-cons (slang for FAKE Jewish conservatives) are directly responsible for having Dinesh D’Souza fired from Kings College.
This ***shole does not deserve your time.

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drphil69
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 1:30pm
The greeks can’t produce enough to feed themselves so they kill each other.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

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- DarkJello
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 1:50pm
  Thank God for Greece, they foreshadow our path IF Obama “wins” on 11-6-12.
  
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Carlinpa
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 1:02pm
Hey Greece want to end these outrages riots by greedy selfish spoiled brats.. Start shooting with REAL Ammo!! That is the ONLY way.. they’re demons.

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MrKnowItAll
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 12:12pm
Free Phones were for fools. The Government owns them and has 100% Legal Right to monitor everything you do on that phone. It is for one thing FRAUD DETERRENT! I’ll give you something free and you hand me all your Privacy Rights.

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TNcraftsman
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 12:11pm
How many of y’all thought “47%” ? Yep, it could happen here. And, y’all know it. Please! Ok, please….. Pray that it does not.

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- johnjamison
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 12:29pm
  How about we pray the police show much give much less leaway and open fire on the crowds when firebombs start flying.
  
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kindling
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 11:15am
When you give a bear food all its life, expect it to lash out when you take that food away. Don’t feed the bears.
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obxned
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 10:53am
Had these idiots put even half as much effort into their jobs as they now do to their protests, they would not have gotten into the mess they are now in.

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dont_drive_slow_in_the_left_lane_obliviot
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 10:17am
they need to start shooting petrol bomb throwers, that’s attempted murder.

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- Konservative PUNK
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:24pm
  agreed. I don’t think our police would put up with that. They charge you with attempted murder or assault with a deadly weapon for not stopping when a cop jumps in front of your car. How is it that these cops are putting up with fire bombs? Is there an EMT unit nearby for burnt bacon?
  
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woodyee
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:55am
If the Greece gobblement would only follow Gaybama’s example, these guys would be too busy placing calls on their “‘Bama-phone!” to riot…

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- PeteOH
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 10:14am
  Well done!
  
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Blitz
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:43am
That looks like a walk in the park compared to what might happen the day after obama is defeated by a large margin.

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TheMajority
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:41am
Nobody needs austerity measures. Citizens of developed nations need exactly what we need.

Capitalism back in the hands of the Citizens, so we can grow our Nations again, provide exponential opportnity in one generation.

This is what happens when governmets take our Capitalism from us, and run the show. They lose control, because they don’t want Citizens creating their own wealth—so everybody eventually goes poor, and votes for the most hand outs.

There will be union workers on our streets some day, acting like this, probably funded by soros (or his kid), like the occupy movement.

Union employees (I hate the term “worker”) in the USA! Listen up! Keep voting for the most extreme left, and your going broke next.

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Mikev5
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:40am
So when you kill or hospitalize all the police then who is in charge me thinks the Nationalists who will rule with violence and heavy handedness to the point Greece will look like Germany at the start of WW2.

Brilliant move citizens of Greece thinking with violence not your Brains leads to collapse of society and order… you never had the money or goodies they promised anyway it was all a big lie what you are demanding to receive never existed NEVER IT WAS A LIE.

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Independent4233
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:35am
If Greece were to implode all on its own, it wouldn’t amount to much of a ripple effect on the rest of the world, but it doesn’t exist in a vacuum in the globally inter-related economic world. There will be severe echos.

Greece will go first. Then Spain. And when Spain falls….and especially Italy….there will be repercussions felt on this side of the Atlantic amounting to considerable turmoil, both economically and socially.

If Obama is re-elected the scene here will be disasterous and the toppling of the EU will be the beginning of the next civil war, and the EU will be consumed with fire and inter-tribal rioting that will also be at critical levels.

If Romney is elected, he will slow things down in this country, but he’s not going to be able to halt the bleeding going on in Europe and the rest of the world, especially if blacks engage in massive riotings here at a level that will bring about a retaliatory response by the rest of America, so he may never get a chance to see if his programs will work, because civil chaos will be so great.

It was the radical left who insisted on giving homes to people who couldn’t pay for them that started this financial tumble, and it will be the same ones who will bring disaster to neighborhoods nationwide.

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barber2
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:21am
Same mentality which supports Obama and which Occupied our Democrat controlled cities. Parasites. Leeches. Dysfunctional. Anarchists. Clueless fodder for the “anti rich” hate rhetoric of the anti-capitalists in the New Far Left Democrat Party which now occupies the White House. NOBAMA 2012 NO DEMOCRATS 2012.

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PeteOH
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:17am
Greece is to the EU, what Kalifornia is to the US. Of course, the cops in Greece aren’t killing their citizens… Anybody wanna hazard a guess as to why the DHS has stockpiled 1.4 billion rounds of hollow point ammunition and built FEMA camps, and the US Army has developed new procedures for crushing domestic uprising?

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- socialism.rocks
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:24am
  and you are a moron california has been a net tax producers since its creation if it got dollar out for dollar paid in taxes it would be debt free “california is so rich it could outright by every-redstate fact
  
  greece and the e.u will default and the american not to big banks own the debt “all is fair under capitalism”
  
  the capitalists shorted their bonds and demanded payment… you really think they arent going to default sooner then later
  
  laugh say i dont know what i am talking about- but everything i just stated is fact and is coming
  
  Report this comment
- PeteOH
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:34am
  You Socialist Tard!!!
  
  Kalifornia is BROKE! Net my @ss… Greece, the EU AND Kalifornia are Nanny states that simply spend and give more away than they can afford. It’s like a Socialist Tard to blame capitalists. Go back to sleep… I’m going to work.
  
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- Mikev5
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:54am
  socialism.rocks
  
  I lived in CA 20 years I know what’s going on you are lost and confused idiot.
  
  California may be a Hugh producer and mover of goods but it’s not rich as you say fool CA will be just like the too big to fail Banks that … FAILED
  
  They are heavy in debt and behind in needed repairs to its infrastructure they also have a large population of takers/leaches sucking it dry I think you can guess who I’m talking about.
  
  Yes Greece and California are not the same thing Hugh economic differences but if the well is dry its dry no matter how big you are BOZO
  
  California politicians ran the state into the ground just like Obummer is running America into a vast hole with big socialist agendas.
  
  I repeat you are BOZO
  
  Report this comment
- PeteOH
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 10:07am
  Socialist Tard… Quickly: As a Socialist, you ARE the enemy of America and freedom worldwide!!!
  
  While Kalifornia had the world’s 8th largest economy with about 38 million people, Greece had the world’s 25th largest economy with about 10 million people. Greece is suffering under a Nanny state that gives away everything and has a HUGE illegal immigration problem… Estimates have the illegals counting for 15 to 20 percent of the population in Greece. It’s like our Fed Gov’t… It’s NOT a revenue issue… It’s a spending issue. When combined with massive illegal immigration and leaches sucking the life out of an economy, how can any system survive? The larger shame in all this is that idiots like you even are allowed to vote! You clueless tard! Go back to Moscow!… Before Nov 6th.
  
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thibx
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:13am
corrupt politians and unions and socialism have destroyed greece. same will happen here if oboma gets 4 more years.

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- barber2
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:25am
  Agree. The Far Left Democrats have been trying their hardest to stir up civil unrest for the past two years. Occupying cities. Union mobs in Wisconsin. ACORN bullhorns in bankers front yards. Anti-rich rhetoric.
  
  Report this comment
huey6367
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:09am
Up next, civil war comes to Greece. News at 11.

Why don’t they just go bankrupt. C’mon Greece, throw up your hands and admit you can’t do anything to help yourself. At least bankruptcy gives you a chance to step back, reassess and go forward again. So what if you have to leave the EU. That might be the best thing for you.

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cottonbonds
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:03am
Glenn tends to call it right….hope he’s wrong on this one
northern Az. is still a safe haven… with room for good folk

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Detroit paperboy
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 8:59am
We are Greece on Steroids………Obama is Carter on Hemmorhoids……….

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- Mikev5
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 10:07am
  It’s amazing how same they are almost like clones that think alike in every way Carter was a socialist idiot so is Obummer and both disliked America as she is and wanted to replace everything into some socialist society and become a third world country to hobble it into submission.
  
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tuppergun
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 8:58am
The obomaites better not try that in my neighborhood!

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Mr.Fitnah
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 8:56am
If they dont cut spending the makers will be the ones rioting.

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- Mr.Fitnah
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:31am
  Report: Welfare government’s single largest budget item in FY 2011 at approx. $1.03 trillion
  
  http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/18/report-welfare-governments-single-largest-budget-item-in-fy-2011-at-approx-1-03-trillion/
  
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Mr.Fitnah
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 8:52am
Coming to the USA .
And we will have a song like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=wq_lhlIn1e0

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:09am
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq-hx73or30 At least this guy sang it about himself.
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:15am
  MR.FITNAH, Should have mentioned that I have already sent that song to all of my email friends. Thanks for that link.
  
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Gonzo
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 8:41am
When Romney gets elected and all the Oamaphones get disconnected (etc.), I think we’ll see similar scenes unfold here. We like to look down our noses at Greece, but we have our own ’47%’ to deal with in America.

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- Gary_K
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 8:47am
  Now ya did it with that 47% remark….hehe
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 9:12am
  GONZO, The problem is that free phone was started under the Bush Administration. I don’t think that it was unlimited minutes like it is now though. But, something else for 0bama to blame Bush when there are too many complaints about the program.
  
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Gary_K
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 8:37am
Coming to a neighborhood near you soon.

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Individualism
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 8:36am
if things keep going in the direction they are, that will happen in America and even worse cause Americans got guns.

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