Third General Strike Hits Greece

Wednesday, 15 June 2011 18:13 |

Third General Strike Hits Greece

Thousands of protestors have gathered outside the Greek parliament as the debate over the new austerity plan begins.

Greek police clashed with the protesters and used tear gas attempting to end the demonstrations.

In response to the police violence, the protestors who gathered around Syntagma Square in Athens began to throw "yoghurt and stones," the BBC reported.

The demonstrations that are organized by main unions of both private and public sectors have disrupted banks, ports, and public transport. This is the third general strike in Greece so far this year.

"They keep asking us to give more," the Guardian quoted Ilias Iliopoulos, the general secretary of the civil servants' union ADEDY as saying. "Now, again, they will cut our salaries and bonuses, from the little that we have left," he added.

Prime Minister George Papandreou tries to win support for a new austerity plan of 28bn Euros in cuts that is to take effect from 2012 to 2015.