Protesting Greeks march on Parliament

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Protesting Greeks march on Parliament

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Tens of thousands of Greeks marched on parliament on Wednesday and protested against govt policies.

15 June,2011 05:00 pm

Stone-throwing Greeks clashed with police and tens of thousands of protesters marched on parliament to oppose government efforts to pass new austerity measures for the debt-stricken euro zone state.Unions representing half the five-million-strong workforce also launched a nationwide strike, shutting ports, schools and other basic services in the Mediterranean state.Prime Minister George Papandreou must push through a new five-year campaign of tax hikes, spending cuts and sell-offs of state property to continue receiving aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund and avoid default.He not only faces public protests and resistance from a conservative opposition that has surpassed his Socialist party in opinion polls, but a few backbenchers in his own parliamentary grouping are also threatening to reject the plan.Political analysts said he would be able to push through the package with support from his PASOK party and possibly a handful of opposition deputies, but that protests had introduced some uncertainty. One PASOK deputy defected on Tuesday, reducing the partys number of seats in parliament to 155 out of 300.Thousands of activists and unionists converged on the central Syntagma square on the parliaments front steps to try to stop lawmakers from entering to debate the bill they hope to pass by the end of the month.