Greece: More Than 100,000 Activists Riot After Austerity Measure Approved
- Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:28pm by
Tiffany Gabbay
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ATHENS, Greece (The Blaze/AP) — Hundreds of youths smashed and looted stores in central Athens and clashed with riot police during a massive anti-government rally against painful new austerity measures that won initial parliamentary approval in a vote Wednesay night.
The rioting came on the first day of a 48-hour nationwide general strike that brought services in much of Greece to a standstill, grounding flights for hours, leaving ferries tied up in port and shutting down customs offices, stores and banks.
More than 100,000 people took to the streets of the Greek capital to demonstrate against the austerity bill, which includes new tax hikes, further pension and salary cuts, the suspension on reduced pay of 30,000 public servants and the suspension of collective labor contracts.
Creditors have demanded the meaures before they give Greece more funds from a euro110 billion ($152.11 billion) package of bailout loans from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund. Greece says it will run out of money in mid-November without the euro8 billion ($11 billion) installment.
But Greek citizens said they already are reeling from more than one-and-a-half years of austerity measures.
“We just can’t take it any more. There is desperation, anger and bitterness,” said Nikos Anastasopoulos, head of a workers’ union for an Athens municipality, as he joined the demonstration early in the day.
The bill won initial approval in the 300-member Parliament late Wednesday, with 154 deputies voting in favor on principle and 141 against. A second vote, on the bill’s articles, is due Thursday. Only after that procedure will the bill have passed. A communist party-backed union has vowed to encircle Parliament Thursday in an attempt to prevent deputies from entering the building for the procedure.
The new measures have even prompted some lawmakers from the governing Socialists to threaten not vote for at least some of the articles in the bill. But Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos insisted there was no choice but to accept the hardship.
“We have to explain to all these indignant people who see their lives changing that what the country is experiencing is not the worst stage of the crisis,” he said in Parliament. “It is an anguished and necessary effort to avoid the ultimate, deepest and harshest level of the crisis. The difference between a difficult situation and a catastrophe is immense.”
Hours before Wednesday’s vote, one of Athens’ largest demonstrations in years degenerated into violence as masked and hooded youths pelted riot police outside Parliament with gasoline bombs and chunks of marble smashed from buildings, metro stops and sidewalks.
Police responded with tear gas and stun grenades. Authorities said 50 police were injured in the clashes, along with at least three demonstrators, while 33 people were detained for questioning or arrested for alleged involvement in the rioting. At least three journalists covering the riots were also slightly hurt.
Long after Wednesday’s demonstration was over, violence continued, with police fighting running street battles with youths setting up burning barricades along the back streets near Athens’ main Syntagma Square and near the tourist area of Monastiraki.
Thick black smoke billowed from burning trash and bus-stops, and debris lay strewn along the capital’s broad avenues. A hurled gasoline bomb set fire to a sentry post used by the ceremonial presidential guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside Parliament.
In Greece’s second city of Thessaloniki, protesters smashed the facades of about 10 shops that defied the strike and remained open, as well as five banks and cash machines. Police fired tear gas and threw stun grenades.
The general strike is set to continue Thursday, with all sectors – from dentists, hospital doctors and lawyers to tax office workers, taxi drivers, prison guards, teachers and dock workers – staying off the job.
Air traffic controllers scaled back their strike from 48 hours to 12, allowing flights to take off and land after noon on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, European countries are trying to work out a broad solution to the continent’s deepening debt crisis, before a weekend summit in Brussels. It became clear earlier this year that the initial bailout for Greece was not working as well as had been hoped, and European leaders agreed on a second, euro109 billion ($151 billion) bailout. But key details of that rescue fund, including the participation of the private sector, remain to be worked out.























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Comments (99)
TomFerrari
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:52pmWhen you think about it, how bright is it to RIOT and DEMAND stuff from a government that IS FLAT BROKE – - BECAUSE – - it has been GIVING YOU STUFF !
How bright is it for America’s youth to be DEMANDING MORE FREE STUFF, when the living embodiment of the end result is the yahoos after which the American kids are patterning their “occupation.”
I still say we did it better with weenies and marshmallows and ghost stories. (held camp-outs that is)
Report Post »Of course we did it with LOVED ONES, not with fellow HATERS.
Armed Patriot
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:20pmI say start shooting… at least rubber bullets and blocks of wood will get thier attention. If you want to stand there and be the target of a molitov cocktail, I say you deserve what you get… st on fire. If you want to end it… put it down no matter how harshly you must act. Are you ready to be set on fire to not show strength.
Coming soon to an American city near you. Brought to you by the nobama administration, the SEIU, AFL-CIO, UAW, Teamsters, UAW, teachers unions, and the demorat party.
Report Post »mr molotov cocktail
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:43pmyou dimwit the governments have enough fricken money it is the american hedge funds that been shortselling and destroying eurozone currencys for big pay-days
people when they find out who really broke them system the rich…..
they will have no were globally to run and hide~!
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 11:17pmArmed Patriot. I agree with you.
A demonstrator throwing a molotov cocktail is using lethal forced & should be met with the same.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 11:22pmmr molotov cocktail
The U.S. was slowly going broke because of social security, medicaid & medicare long before 2008. Social welfare is a PONZI scheme.
Europe is the same way. A PONZI scheme. It is so bad & so expensive that people stop having children & then the not-so-great socialist leaders beg for immigrants from any country to replace the population they lost due to taxes.
Report Post »Ronald Wilson
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 12:01amAP has a good idea. Consequences.
Report Post »Got me thinking that maybe “voluntary” military service is what’s required here. Jail or complete a four year enlistment. Might be a good way to teach some real-life into these people.
Therightsofbilly
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 12:25amYep, not very bright.
Especially for a country that gave us that really smart dude……..what was his name……Play-Doh?
Report Post »Jaycen
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 12:27amPainful? Really? People are writhing in agony because they can’t retire with full pension at 47 and take trips to other socialist countries?
Wah.
Report Post »ares338
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:51pmZorba doesn’t live there anymore! Too much government for too long and this is what you get! This is what we‘re headed for if we don’t stop it now. After you get to a certain point it’s impossible to stop. Oh well we won’t last as long as the Roman Empire but 235 years isn a pretty good run.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 11:28pmactually I think Empires / large nations only last about 200 years on average. The Roman Republic fell only to be replaced with the Roman Empire. It kind of depends on how you define it. The Han dynasty was broken up into 2 periods each of about 200 years.
It kind of makes one think that Asimov was onto something with his Foundation series.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:40pmDo the idiots not see if cuts aren’t made and they take a little less is better than nothing, zilch, nada. How about no job, no pay, no home, no food, no life. Take your pick.
The author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad Robert Kiyosaki is correct the employee class is the most greediest group on earth and they complain about the rich. I fall in the employee class, but I am not that greedy. I am willing to take a little less in retirement when the time comes. I am five years away. I’d rather have some money than no money. For now I just want to find a full-time job instead of spending my life savings to stay afloat.
See Socialist on this forum, this is what you breed into people; a sense of entitlement and greed, greed, and more greed. Ingrates all of you!
Report Post »ProbIemSoIver
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:49pmWant to learn about the IMF, The Federal Reserve and other global elite’s financial entities?
Want to know the truth about Debts, Stock Markets, and Bailouts ????
It will only take 5:23 for both. One is viral, the other should be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlCs7u1ihws
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UqcY8lGUUE
TomFerrari
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:54pm@probiemsoiver – posts that do not contribute to the conversation, and/or only link offsite are a violation of comment policy on theblaze.com
Report Post »neocon1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:06pmOoooooh the boogy man led by the Joooooos
Report Post »PATHETIC!
ProbIemSoIver
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:08pm@ TOMFERRARI
A Bailout By a World Bank does not have anything to do with my posts ?
You are severely politically uneducated. The EU is asking the U.S. for some bailout money. Are you for real ???
The protests you see have everything to do with my posts. You are Ignorant and bereft of any substantive facts.
You don’t think the IMF and the Federal reserve are two different arms of the same global body ???
Sad !!!!
Here, let this 20 year wall street protester educate you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQow0Fhua1A
Report Post »neocon1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:15pmpablumsucker
Let’s forget about the debt for the moment. (30 TRILLION $$$$$$)
U.S. spends 3.6 trillion a year.
112 million taxpayers
3.6 t / 112m = 321,428
That means every taxpayer only needs to give 321,428 each to balance the spending.
I personally don’t have a problem with this. Quit your bitch’in and mail your check..
Taxed Enough Already
send the KID in the VID a copy of reality, and ask him for HIS check along with YOURS!
Report Post »ProbIemSoIver
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:59pm@Neocon
I already embarrassed you regarding your last post to me, which was the same as this one ( copied and Pasted with a slight modification, lol )
Report Post »Be an original. Come to the table to debate me with substantive facts. You are coming to me with Numbers given to “people” by “Credible” sources that you have used, as your credentials for a supposed irrefragable Political ideology. I don’t care about a “debt” incurred by corrupt global criminals and their minions. I don’t care that three nefarious congressmen in 1913, that created the Federal reserve act. I don’t care that the America went bankrupt in 1933 and promised the Federal reserve that my grandfather, my dad, myself and my children would be slaves to the Fed as collateral for that Bailout. You be a good factotum to the fed and pay them your earnings. I don’t care that the secretary of the treasurer, Geithner is the middle man appointed by the fed to oversee our Bankruptcy and has more power than the president. You see, you and I, and many have been duped.
As long as we have a Fiat currency that is based on no standard, such as gold, we are getting screwed. Seriously, take the time to look at the clips. They are very informative and important.
4-The-Truth
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:27pmJust wait till the cops realize their unions screwed them too. I suppose they will blame the Jewish bankers in the EU for all the bad deals their unions and politicians got them into. I hope God gets this sorted out pretty soon.
Report Post »rangerp
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:40pmyou have to break it before you can rebuild it. We elected the community organizer, the citizen of the world. Once they break all the systems, they can rebuild with a big one world system.. Hey, why not do away with cash, and just come up with something simple….. something like a mark on peoples forehead or the back of their hand…….
Report Post »Shasta
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:16pmrangerp, they have the framework of the new system built and ready to go.
Report Post »rockstone
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:23pmTake notes folks…..
Report Post »joe conservative
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:30pmTake notes is right. Just look at the upswing in violence taking place now in our own streets. The Occupy Wall Street protests really started as an effort to change the American Dream. Here is the proof. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouyNzCfsAq4
Report Post »neocon1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:21pmwhen we elect atheists, sodomites, communists, perverts, thieves, muslims and reprobates why are we surprised by what our govt has become?
Report Post »neocon1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:15pmPray a plague will reach every doorstep with a D painted upon it.
Report Post »Our only hope is from above.
neocon1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:11pman addiction to OPM is hard to break.
Report Post »ask the 46% of Americans who pay NO federal tax.
or the 30 million ILLEGAL aliens who suck TWO HUNDRED BILLION of our tax dollars a year.
or the millions who produce NOTHING yet get *free* food, rent, clothes, education, cigarettes and crack.
Eleutheria
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:47pm51% pay no federal income tax.
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:00pmTo the ‘Dear’ souls who disclaim that the Greek “troubles” have ANY indication of what is to come to American shores…Keep on Keeping On!!!
{more supplies for my family}
Dear 20 something people-Please, google Hurricane Katrina. Google the heck out of it. :)
Report Post »garyM
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:59pmGreece: More Than 100,000 Activists Riot After Austerity Measure Approved
America..coming to a town near you if we don’t get congress off their a$$ in both parties to stop this crap!
Report Post »SHOWMESTATEGUY
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:56pmYou are looking at the future America.
Report Post »neocon1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:01pmyup
brought to you by union thugs, dumbed down innercity zombies, commies, SEIU, anarchists, flash mobs and useful idiots.
Report Post »neocon1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:16pmAND
Report Post »atheists.
progressiveslayer
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:42pmAh yes the utopia that is socialism,aint it grand?
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:55pmI am all for living and let live, but the fact of the matter is that people will never be preached the truth of the Old Testament, or the New Testament by a man or women whom is a homosexual. Because they will have to deny their own preference, and they can not understand the light, and they can not accept the meaning of opposites being the one invisible spirit marrying the opposite that being the group of people also called the wife and woman. And they can not understand the spiritual brother, because to teach the spiritual brother, then they will have to preach everything else, and people can not love the Father if they can not love their spiritual brother.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:00pmAnd if people can not get a grip on that, then they are going to hell by their own hand….period.
Report Post »neocon1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:02pmloving the FATHER comes FIRST, then the rest.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:08pmJust how is it that you think John got to the sepulcher first before he actually got to the sepulcher? His spiritual brother Lazarus beat him there.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:10pmHey NEOCON, if you can’t comprehend a spiritual brother, than you can never understand a spiritual father.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:18pmYou hypocrites, you don’t read the Bible, but that you memorize a few convenient scriptures to amaze people, and God knows your malice. If you actually read the Bible you would understand that Moses takes off his shoes (which are his people, his flock), and you would understand Aaron is Moses’ Prophet in the room, and also Moses’ brother, and you would understand then that it was the God came to Moses, and told Moses that Moses would be LIKE GOD to pharaoh.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:28pmGod Almighty is going to show his light, and each will get according to his deeds, and it’s going to turn this Globe inside-out because of the walls you have digged, and you deserve the wrath that is coming to you.
Report Post »neocon1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:57pmhey ethan
Report Post »one proceeds the other. DUH!
neocon1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:01pmethan
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying,
I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)
NO man comes to the father but through me.
do try to keep up.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:04pmeliasim – wow – judgmental, aren’t we?
LUKE 18:11, “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.”
If you are going to say what you said about the homosexuals, then you need to say the same thing about all other sins/sinners as well… alcoholics, gamblers, liars, thieves, adulterers, those who commit LUST – even just in their hearts! Those who are guilty of greed, pride, envy… the list goes on and on. Let’s not just single out the homosexuals, though, just because they are a popular group to judge or hate.
Instead of judging people, let’s do like Christ did and commanded us to do, and reach out to them – teach them – you seem to be determining that they cannot be saved, that they are beyond redemption.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:15pmThat’s just it though, you imbeciles are not following the light of the world. Ha, even the devil knows whom Jesus Christ is, and thus just saying his name isn’t enough to save you. You don’t have any idea who I am, but that’s alright. Truly, you have your reward.
Report Post »neocon1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:19pmtom
“GO and SIN NO MORE”.
Report Post »not, go and SUCK some more.
un repentant sin = death
sodomy = un repentant sin.
Eliasim
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:20pmYou imbeciles even think that John the Baptist ate bugs, because the Gospels say “Locusts” were his meat. But it actually was weak pathetic people whom lived in a false reality as you do were his meat. And he baptized with water, that be that he was a condemner of societies. And he was also Elijah. You know nothing.
Report Post »neocon1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:24pm“You don’t have any idea who I am, but that’s alright. Truly, you have your reward.”
ummmm some ****** with a god complex?
Report Post »Kasey
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 11:00pmuuuhhhhh. .. Forums for rioting socialists = a place to condemn homosexuals? I think The Lord will take care of that, and probably not on a forum. Take a rest. Tiny Tim.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 1:06amTomFerrari
Good post
Report Post »MARCH4HIM
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 6:14am@ ELIASIM
QUIT….. PARAPHRASING….!!!!!!!!!
You want to preach the WORD of GOD.
Quit giving your interpretation like “jim wallace”
IT IS WRITTEN ………Then tell me what you think.
Then I can Use scripture, to show your Errors or if I agree.
Confusion come from SATAN NOT OF GOD..
AND YOUR NOT MAKING A LICK OF SENSE.
Report Post »UBETHECHANGE
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:50pmSocialism withdrawals.
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:11pmIf this is what it takes to bring socialism into being then I want no part of it. Something dark here and I see no light in it despite how fair they say it will be for everyone concerned. Dark stuff people, once in power it will get very dark so they can solidify their hold on this new United American Socialists States. Dear God help us.
Report Post »sizzler2220
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:48pmYep, socialism works so well, doesn’t it libs?
Report Post »decendentof56
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:04pmSure does, sizzler, yet dumb Americans want more gov.
Report Post »I always ask them….so, what would be a fair system to you? They’ll always be vague as to specifics.
Poor,dumb bastards, they don’t realize that equal results means less freedom/incentive to excell. I
know, i worked in a union environment for 39 years, and some of my co-workers were, shall we say, less than motivated.
shirtsbyeric
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:47pmIt’s like handing cookies to a baby, when you stop they start screaming.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:44pmThere is Truth… such as a Nation has more Debt than it is able to repay or reasonably collect in Taxes… and Ignorance… such as rioting and destruction will resolve a Financial Crisis, because Socialism failed to be Viable. I can feel sorry… for them (for US)… but it changes nothing: Bad Decisions can lead to a DoomsDay!
Report Post »vennoye
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:42pmGuess this is what it looks like when public service unions have sucked all the money out of the governments’ treasuries.
Report Post »Smith523
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:44pmThe United States of America in 5 years if Obummer has his way
Report Post »OhioRifleman
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:51pm@ Smith523: less than 5 years, amigo. I expect this will be happening here within the next 10-12 months.
Report Post »Ready to stand 2
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:55pmIt want take 5 years !
Report Post »This_Individual
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:56pmThat‘s exactly what’s happening here in Cali.
Report Post »shirelover
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:40pmthe money is finally running out, people don’t want to tighten the belt… it’s socalism as the money runs out. the real question is, do we watch and learn? or do we just jump on that train with both feet. either way, I will continue to do what I can to keep the peace in my area with malice towards none, but teaching and helping all I can
Report Post »Exrepublisheep
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:39pmI bet the rich Greeks are just fine.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 12:01am“Some say that Andrew Carnegie, the famed 1800s industrialist from Scotland, brought the proverb’s message to the New World. Further investigation proves that the adage is not unique to any one country or culture. In Italian it is “dalle stalle alle stelle alle stalle” (“from stalls to stars to stalls”). The Spanish say, “quien no lo tiene, lo hance; y quien lo tiene, lo deshance” (“who doesn’t have it, does it, and who has it, misuses it”). Even non-western cultures, including the Chinese, have a similar proverb.”
But you are wiser than the combined wisdom of the world. right?
Did you say that in the same sentence as “I hope that more Wall Street people jump, when the stock market dives” or did you take a breath?
Report Post »Chr1st14n
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:38pmman imagine what the tribulation is going to be like
http://vimeo.com/channels/237572
Report Post »stage9
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:38pmliberalism = criminalism
Report Post »I.Gaspar
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:37pmThis is what happens when you give people “something for nothing”.
Report Post »The system breaks down and the freeloaders riot when there is nothing left to give
Let‘s hope it doesn’t happen here next spring/summer…and let‘s pray that obama’s eviction next November won’t be too late.
KickinBack
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:36pmGreece. Land of the progressives utopia.
Report Post »broker0101
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:35pmOK, queue the Blaze Simpletons who will shrewdly compare the OW idiots in America to the Greek-Riot idiots. You’re about a half-notch smarter than the idiots. Congratulations.
Report Post »OhioRifleman
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:50pmMy apologies for hitting so close to the truth. It appears we have offended you by not seeing through your smoke and mirrors.
Have a good day.
Report Post »fatjack
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:22pmIts coming……………….are you ready?
Report Post »YepImaConservative
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:39pmBROKE = To being currently (but not necessarily permanently) out of money. BROKER = Greece.
I see you can relate to Greece.
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:47pmBrokedick You are a moron indeed,you really should pull your head out.
Report Post »Lumbar Spine
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:33pmSo…does this mean the Caliphate is finally coming to America like Glenn predicted?
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:38pmA Caliph, as Emperor of the Muslims, has only one Mission… conquer non Islamic nations, as set in the Koran, in the name of Allah!
Report Post »I.Gaspar
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:38pmYou truly are an idiot.
Report Post »Don’t you have somewhere else to go?
raspberrytea
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 8:48pmStay tuned.
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:03pmi think you need to go back and listen to what glenn said about the caliphate yourself it has become apparent that you dont have a clue what your talking about …………….that tends to happen when you dont investigate what media splatters feeds you
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:52pmAnother one with his head up his A$$
Report Post »This_Individual
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:57pmNo. It means that socialists will be burned at the steak :)
Report Post »This_Individual
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:58pmOr stake. :) Dinner time, I guess.
Report Post »