Greek anti-austerity demo turns violent

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Greek anti-austerity demo turns violent

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Youth pelted riot police with petrol bombs and chunks of marble Thursday in an anti-austerity demo.

18 October,2012 08:23 pm

Authorities said around 70,000 protesters took to the street in two separate demonstrations in Athens during the countrys second general strike in a month as workers across the country walked off the job to protest new austerity measures the government is negotiating with Greeces international creditors.A 65-year-old protester suffered a fatal heart attack during the demonstration but efforts to revive him failed. The organizers of the protest march he participated in said the man had fallen ill before any rioting had broken out.The measures for 2013-14, worth €13.5 billion ($17.7 billion), aim to prevent the country from going bankrupt and potentially having to leave the 17-nation eurozone.Riot police responded with volleys of tear gas and stun grenades in the capitals Syntagma Square outside Parliament as protesters scattered during the clashes, which continued on and off for about an hour. Another general strike in late September had also seen limited, but much more intense, clashes between protesters and police.Four demonstrators were injured after being hit by police, volunteer paramedics said. The Health Ministry said two of the protesters were treated in hospital and that their injuries were not serious.Hundreds of police had been deployed in the Greek capital ahead of the demonstration, as such protests often turn violent. Police said about 50 people were detained Thursday.A similar demonstration by about 17,000 people in the northern city of Thessaloniki ended peacefully.Thursdays strike was timed to coincide with a European Union summit in Brussels later in the day, at which Greeces economic fate will likely feature large.The strike grounded flights, shut down public services, closed schools, hospitals and shops and hampered public transport in the capital. Taxi drivers joined in for nine hours, while a three-hour work stoppage by air traffic controllers led to flight cancellations. Islands were left cut off as ferries stayed in ports.