Country in grip of massive strike - The Best from Greece

Demonstrators clashed with police in front of the parliament on Wednesday as hundreds of thousands rallied at the start of a 48-hour general strike timed to coincide with a vote on a bitterly resented new round of austerity measures.

Protesters showered police with stones and fire bombs on the steps of the parliament building, forcing them to retreat. The boom of tear gas canisters fired by police rang out over Syntagma Square while black smoke curled into the air.

With memories still fresh of the running battles that marked anti-austerity protests in June, more than 5,000 police had deployed on the streets and the mood among the demonstrators was angry.

"We have no future here. All young people want to go abroad and they are right to do so," said Anastasia Kolokotsa, 17, protesting outside parliament.

She was one of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators who took to the streets of Athens and cities across Greece to protest at a package of austerity measures to be voted in parliament on Thursday.

Many young protesters were carrying helmets and by early afternoon there were other reports of clashes away from the main rally involving masked, black-clad youths hurling Molotov cocktails at police who responded with teargas.

The General Confederation of Greek Labour (GSEE), one of the trade unions behind the 48-hour strike, has said that the Athens protest is one of the largest since the restoration of democracy in 1974. In its 2pm bulletin, private Greek broadcaster Mega estimated that over 500,000 particpated in the Athens protest alone.

Violence broke out at the demonstration shortly after 3pm, when one of the sentry boxes in front of parliament was set alight by hooded youths. (For more updates, please follow the Athens News live news blog.)

Participating in the general strike are all public sector employees including tax officials and teachers and well as banks and businesses ranging from taxis and clothes shops to bakers.

In a statement issued this afternoon, the General Confederation of Greek Trade (Esee) said that over 90 percent of shops and small businesses closed in order to participate in today's strike. "The country's commercial sector has demonstrated once again its strong reaction to economic policies that have led many shops to close and have brought the Greek market to despair," it said.

The general strike is the culmination of this week's strike action taken by numerous labour sectors, including refuse collectors, dock workers and seamen, public transport workers, judges, doctors, customs officials and journalists.

But after repeated rounds of austerity measures, hostility to the government and the international lenders demanding ever tougher action has risen to new levels. Unions urged deputies not to pass the law.

"If they have any humanity, decency, sense of pride and Greek soul left, they must reject the bill," Nikos Kioutsoukis, a top official in private sector union GSEE which is leading the strike with its public sector counterpart Adedy.

With the country's economy already on its knees, protesters said more austerity measures would only drive the country deeper into the ground.

"The dangerous slide in the economy and the society must stop," small business association GSEVEE said. "It only leads to further shutdowns, unemployment, pauperisation, wider deficits and even bigger debt."

Protests

Protesters assembled at Pedion tou Areos, in central Athens, at 11am, while for Thursday there will be a protest gathering at Syntagma Square, outside parliament.

Speaking ahead of the general strike, Kostas Tsikrikas, head of the 500,000-strong ADEDY union, accused Prime Minister George Papandreou's Socialist government of blindly pursuing austerity measures. This "will exacerbate recession, unemployment, while state revenues will continue to fall, creating a death spiral", Tsikrikas told Reuters, urging lawmakers to reject the package.

If the new law is accepted, Greek public sector workers, paid on average 1,300 euros a month, will see their salaries cut by more than 40 percent based on the new uniform wage scale.

A first vote takes place late on Wednesday on the overall bill, which mixes deep cuts to public sector pay and pensions, tax hikes, a suspension of sectoral pay accords and an end to the constitutional taboo against laying off civil servants.

A second vote on specific articles is expected sometime on Thursday and only after that the bill becomes law.

Strikes aplenty

Dozens of unions participated in the strike action on Wednesday. Following a call from their assocation, shops and businesses are shut, in an unprecidented move for the private sector.

The Hellenic Telecommunications (OTE) staff union OME-OTE are participating in the 48-hour strike, as are seamen. The Panhellenic Seamen's Federation (PNO) on Tuesday extended its 48-hour rolling strike, from 6am October 19 to October 21, during which no ships of any class will set sail from any Greek port or harbour. The PNO strike action is causing serious problems in getting supplies to many Greek islands.

Tax inspectors are on strike too, protesting against planned wage and pension cuts and threatening more disruption to revenue collection efforts that are already falling behind the tough budget targets imposed by international lenders.

Finance ministry officials are holding a two-week stoppage from October 17, while tax offices will remain closed until Thursday and customs officials will stay away from their desks until October 23.

This protests, the biggest since the crisis began, will add to pressure on Prime Minister George Papandreou, who is struggling to quell dissent in his own ranks.

On Monday, a Pasok MP resigning in protest Monday, while over the weekend three leading government ministers presented a joint "manifesto", in which they attack trade unionism and demand faster reforms.

The press has viewed the gesture as a message that they are in line to bid for the party leadership in the post-Papandreou era.

Τransport

Apart from some work stoppages in the morning and evening, much of the public transport system in Athens will be operating in order to ferry the public to the trade union protests on Wednesday and Thursday. Taxis and trains will be on strike. Air-traffic controllers have cancelled their 48-hour strike, converting it into a 12-hour work stoppage to end at noon on Wednesday.

Metro (blue and red lines)
Wednesday and Thursday: no service from start of shift until 9am
No service from Doukissis Plakentias to the airport due to Hellenic Railway strike (who own that section of the line)

Ilektrikos (ISAP, green line)
Wednesday: no service from start of shift until 10am and from 6pm to end of shift
Thursday: no service from start of shift until 9am

Tram
Wednesday: no service from start of shift until 8am and from 8pm to end of shift
Thursday: no service from start of shift until 8am

Buses
Wednesday/Thursday: no service from start of shift until 9am and from 9pm to end of shift

Trolleys
Wednesday/Thursday: no service from start of shift until 9am and from 9pm to end of shift

Taxis
Wednesday/Thursday: 48-hour strike from 5am Wednesday until 5am Friday.

Air-traffic controllers
Wednesday: 12-hour work stoppage from 00.01 to 12.00 (a 48-hour strike on Wed/Thurs has been cancelled)

Hellenic Rail (OSE)
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday: 36-hour strikε

Proastiakos (suburban rail)
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday: 36-hour strike