- Unions called for 24 hours of peaceful protest
Greece was in total shut down on Wednesday, as unions staged a 24-hour general strike and held peaceful demonstrations to protest further austerity cuts in the country. The strike disrupted public transport, halted ferry and train services, shut down courts and state-run schools, and left state hospitals and the ambulance service functioning with solely members of the emergency crew. Dozens of flights were canceled or rescheduled as air traffic controllers walked off the job for three hours in support of the labour action.
Two separate protest marches to Parliament in Athens, were poorly attended due to heavy rains, with a total of 12,000 people, mostly Communist party supporters, shouting anti-austerity slogans. Up to 10,000 protesters held two separate demonstrations in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city. The strike is as a result of the country’s poor economic state and faltering deals to assure its recovery.
Greece has been surviving on international rescue loans from the International Monetary Fund and other European countries that use the euro since 2010. This came after a combination of dismal financial stewardship, loss of investor’s confidence and the global recession brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.
Extracted and modified from Yahoo News
