Galery

1

The centre of Athens had once again become the scene of heavy clashes between police and protesters. There was tension in the morning when a group of teachers, school guards and cleaners in the Ministry of Finance tried to enter the courtyard of the Ministry of Administrative Reform, where the meeting between the members of the supervisory Troika and Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was about to take place. Members of the riot forces thwarted the intentions of the protesters by using tear gas.

The authorities arrested 17 people during the clashes, including president of the union of secondary school teachers Themis Kotsifakis, and later released them.

The protest announced by the union of municipal employees took place later, outside the Ministry of Finance, where there were again clashes. The participants in the morning protests had joined this protest too. The protesters threw bottles of water at the cars of the Troika members and shouted slogans against the government and the Troika. The cleaners from the Ministry of Finance, who are included in the mobility programme, were especially actively protesting.

The violent reactions of the protesters started when the police units tried to make a way, among the protesters, for the representatives of Greece's lenders after their meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The protesters tried to resist but the police authorities used tear gas to disperse them. During the clash, some of the protesters, including chairman of the union of municipal employees Themis Balasopoulos, collapsed and a woman was taken to hospital by ambulance. At the same time, chairman of the union of public sector employees Grigoris Kalomiris was detained.

The protesters claim that, many of their colleagues will be laid off on 22 March. The majority of them are teachers and school guards.

Under the plan of the Ministry of Administrative Reform, the measure will affect those employees included in the mobility programme who have failed to move to other public institutions as well as those with low rating after the evaluation of civil servants.