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Trade union protest in Athens, tractors on highways

14 February 2014 / 22:02:01  GRReporter
2514 reads

Anastasia Balezdrova

About 500 people protested today outside the Ministry of Administrative Reform against the policy of the Greek government. The protesters included civil servants and employees of private companies who were united by their common desire for a change in the government.

The protest had begun early in the afternoon when a column of vehicles arrived from the northern city of Alexandroupoli in Athens. The majority of the arrivals were school guards who oppose the mobility programme in the public sector. They stated that on their way to Athens they had passed through various cities, including Thessaloniki, where former employees of the local plant of "Coca-Cola" company, which has been transferred to Bulgaria, had joined them.

The protesters, who numbered about 200, including their colleagues from Athens who had also joined them, gathered at Karaiskaki square, outside the office of the union of municipal employees PОЕ-OTA. The police officers, who were waiting for them, had been ordered not to allow them to cross the centre of Athens by car and roped off the street. The protesters got angry and voiced their displeasure but eventually they had to agree to leave their cars there and hold their procession walking. Motorcyclists were permitted to lead the procession.

While the negotiations were taking place, a female voice from the loud speakers urged the residents of Athens to boycott the "Bulgarian products of Coca-Cola". "Not a sip of Fanta, nor of Amita nor of Coca-cola unless the plant in Thessaloniki reopens," she cried and argued that since the launch of the campaign of the dismissed, the sales of the company products had fallen by 40% in Northern Greece.

The procession reached Klafthmonos square which has become the command post of the protest actions of municipal workers. Some music could be heard from a small wooden pavilion, which mingled with the protest slogans and calls for boycotting the "Coca-Cola" company. Members of the trade union of secondary school teachers and of the Communist trade union, PAME, joined the protesters too.

The 40 motorcycles and the 500 people set off to the Ministry of Administrative Reform, stopping, before that, at the Ministry of Finance, where they called protest slogans as well.

The building of the Ministry of Administrative Reform was surrounded by members of the riot police forces and four police buses. The protesters faced the police officers and began crying against the mobility programme in the public sector. Once trade unionists and members of the main opposition SYRIZA party had joined them the rally turned into an anti-government protest.

Less than half an hour after the arrival of the procession at the Ministry and despite the angry reactions of some of the participants the police freed one of the lanes of Vasilisis Sofias Avenue and resumed the traffic on it, and the participants started leaving. It is worth noting that the police had met the strict requirements of the law, which was passed last year in connection with the holding of protests. From the beginning of the protest and the arrival of the participants at the Ministry of Administrative Reform, the police did not allow them to interrupt the traffic in the centre of Athens.

At the same time, farmers’ blockades of Greek highways are intensifying. Following yesterday's failed meeting between their representatives and Minister of Finance Yiannis Stournaras, farmers from the region of Kavala have parked their tractors at Kerdilia junction near the Egnatia highway in the area between Serres and Kavala.

The traffic on the road is normal but the farmers are determined to hold a symbolic blockade of the highway on Saturday. There are numerous police units in the region.

However, other roadblocks may appear over the next few days as each region separately decides on the future of the protests.

Tags: SocietyProtestProcessionSchool guardsMunicipal workersPoliceFarmersBlockades
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