It's not a USA thing, It's happening all over the world: Greek State Workers Take to Streets to Fight Cuts

Police fired tear gas at stone-throwing youths in central Athens on Wednesday, where thousands of striking state sector workers marched against cuts the government says are needed to save the nation from bankruptcy.

AP

A small number of youths broke up marble paving slabs and hurled the chunks of rock at police in full riot gear, who responded by firing tear gas grenades.

Flights were grounded, schools shut and government offices closed in the first nationwide walkout in months. Labor leaders call it the start of a campaign to derail emergency austerity steps launched last month by a government that has already imposed two years of tax hikes and wage cuts.

Greece's debt crisis poses a threat to the viability of the 17-nation euro currency zone. Reforms to Greek finances took on a new urgency this week after the announcement that Athens would miss its 2011 deficit target.

Thousands of state workers, pensioners and students had gathered peacefully, beating drums and waving banners reading "Erase the debt!" and "The rich must pay". They marched into the square outside parliament where lawmakers were debating holding a referendum on the response to the fiscal crisis.

In June, more than 100 people were injured in clashes between demonstrators and police in Syntagma Square. A police official said about 1,000 officers were deploying on Wednesday, fewer than during June's protests.

Hospitals ran on emergency staff and some state schools closed. Trains were halted, and more than 400 international and domestic flights were cancelled at Athens airport, an airport spokeswoman said.

Despite its new measures demanded by the EU and IMF , the government was forced to announce this week it would still miss its 2011 deficit target by nearly 2 billion euros, rattling global markets. Polls show nearly four out of five Greeks expect to default on the massive national debt within months.

"We want this government out. They deceived us. They promised to tax the rich and help the poor, but they didn't," said Sotiris Pelekanos, 39, an engineer and one of the striking workers gathered in central Athens.

"I don't care if we go bankrupt. We are already bankrupt. It's just a matter of the state realizing it," he said. "We've lost everything."

Greece's main Labor unions ADEDY and GSEE expect hundreds of thousands of people to walk off the job.

"They are not trying to save Greece. They are just killing workers," ADEDY Vice President Ilias Vrettakos said in a speech during the rally. "They should get the money from the rich, not from us."

Away from the demonstrations, the streets of the capital were calm. The private sector did not participate in the strike but will take part in a bigger general strike on Oct. 19.

Many in the Greek private sector resent the perks of state workers, who make up about a fifth of Greece's work force and are protected from layoffs by the constitution.