Heavy clashes erupt in Greece

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the Greek parliament today at the start of a two-day strike against the unpopular austerity measures package to be voted by the house. Heavy confrontations erupted throughout the capital streets as Greek police clashed with groups of hooded youths in central Athens.

It is the fourth general strike to hit Greece since the government started discussing unpopular austerity measures in order to meet Europe’s requirement for the much needed bailout package.

Greek police clashed with groups of hooded youths in central Athens. Police were deployed to the centre of the capital to deal with expected trouble. as a crowd officials estimated at some 20,000 rallied in Syntagma Square, in front of the parliament building.

The rally was initially peaceful but by early afternoon, smaller groups of youths numbering in the hundreds hurled rock chipped off buildings in the square at riot police who responded with tear gas. Three police officers were injured by flying stones and one person was stabbed during fights between rival groups of young demonstrators. Police also said three people were treated for breathing difficulties.

Protesters set fire to a communications truck equipped with a mobile telecoms transmitter which they had apparently mistaken for a TV truck and sprayed with slogans attacking the media and banks.

Clouds of white smoke swirled above the square and police with shields and riot helmets stood by ready to move but a peaceful demonstration continued alongside the violence and some protest leaders appealed to the crowd not to disperse.

With Greece teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, parliament is due to vote this week on a package of spending cuts, tax increases and privatizations agreed as part of a massive bailout aimed at averting the euro zone's first default.

Following weeks of protests and rolling strikes, ADEDY, the public sector union representing half a million civil servants and GSEE, which represents 2 million private sector workers, are stepping up pressure on deputies before the votes.

Transport and public services were hit, schools were shut and many shops and businesses were closed, while the streets of central Athens were virtually deserted.

"We expect a dynamic and massive participation in the strike and the march to the center of Athens. We will have 48 hours of working people, unemployed, young people in the streets," ADEDY's leader Spyros Papaspyros told reporters.

Deep in deficit and unable to borrow on financial markets, Greece depends on international support to keep going. A default could spread contagion around the 17-nation single currency area and cause a deep shock to the global economy.

Prime Minister George Papandreou appealed to lawmakers late yesterday to back the austerity measures in two votes on tomorrow and Thursday, which he said represented the final chance for Greece to get back on its feet.

Although the socialists have a majority, with 155 deputies in the 300-seat house, some MPs have warned they may vote against the austerity plan. Analysts say the risk of the mid-term plan not passing is small, especially since it may win support from smaller conservative groups.

Euro zone authorities are working flat-out with banks and insurers to devise a scheme whereby private bondholders can share the burden of further funding for Greece without prompting credit ratings agencies to declare a selective default.

The austerity plan has caused deep anger among Greeks disillusioned with years of political corruption and inefficiency and now bitterly resentful of the conditions imposed by the European Union and International Monetary Fund. By midday yesterday about 20,000 had assembled in hot sunshine in front of the parliament, with banners carrying slogans such as "Bankers are P.I.G.S., not people" but the mood appeared calm, despite some chanting.

More than 5,000 police are expected to be deployed in central Athens, especially to protect parliament, the focus of weeks of protests by demonstrators who have camped out in the neighboring Syntagma Square.

As a sign the discontent has spread well beyond the union movement and far left, the Greek Confederation of Commerce (ESEE), a trade association of retailers, also rejected measures its leader Vassilis Korkidis denounced as "predatory." It urged shopkeepers to raise Greek national flags at their stores and announced an Internet campaign to convince cabinet members and MPs to renege on the austerity plan.

Greece is stuck in its worst recession since the 1970s, with a youth unemployment rate of more than 40 percent and public finances shattered by a debt equivalent to some 150 percent of gross domestic product.