LOS ANGELES TIMES: The rioting signals growing social unrest as the Greek government prepares to announce additional austerity measures to secure rescue loans from the EU and International Monetary Fund.
Reporting from Athens
Wielding red flags and hurling crude gas bombs, dozens of militant youths clashed with riot police in central Athens on Saturday, signaling swelling social unrest as the cash-strapped Greek government prepares to announce additional austerity measures required to win rescue loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
The clashes came during massive May Day protests called by Greece's powerful trade unions and left-wing political parties in a desperate bid to block the plans for additional wage cuts, tax hikes and pension reductions.
"The bill should go to those who looted this country for decades, not to the workers," said Spiros Papaspirou, head of Greece's powerful Adedy civil servants union. "This is the most savage, unjust and unprovoked attack workers have ever faced."
Saturday's protests drew nearly 20,000 workers to the streets of the capital, bringing traffic and trade to a standstill as demonstrators filed by the Finance Ministry building chanting slogans against the government, the EU and the IMF. >>> Anthee Carassava, Special to the Los Angeles Times | Saturday, May 01,2010
