Greek police have fired tear gas to disperse anarchists throwing petrol bombs near Athens’ parliament on a day-long strike against austerity measures.
Clashes erupted during the first trade union-led action since a conservative-led coalition came to power in June.
The protest is against planned spending cuts of 11.5bn euros ($15bn; £9bn).
The savings are a pre-condition to Greece receiving its next tranche of bailout funds, without which the country could face bankruptcy in weeks.
An estimated 50,000 people have joined the protests.
A march past parliament turned violent as anarchists wearing black balaclavas and carrying sticks threw petrol bombs and broken bits of concrete at riot police on Syntagma Square, says the BBC’s Mark Lowen in Athens.
Wednesday’s strike has brought the whole country to a standstill, adds our correspondent, with doctors, teachers, tax workers, ferry operators and air traffic controllers all joining the protest.
It follows a series of demonstrations in Spain and Portugal, which are also facing stringent austerity measures.
via BBC
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Alfonso Esparza
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
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