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Trucks are back on the ways in and out of Athens and make the traffic difficult. Hundreds of heavy vehicles parked in the emergency lanes of the Athens-Lamia highway near Metamorfosis and Athens-Corinth near Haydar. More than 2000 vehicles gathered there yesterday without causing major problems. Most of them withdrew at night to return this morning again. Hundreds of trucks and tanks parked around the vegetable market in Thessaloniki and their drivers threatened to block the road at noon.

As GRReporter already wrote, Greek truck drivers are protesting against the bill for liberalization of the labour market of their branch which enters the parliament today. According to the directive of the European Commission, this profession had to be liberated back in 2004. The introduction of market principles and competition among the drivers in this class is one of the reforms that the creditors of Greece insist on – the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission. It is under their pressure the Socialist government began the liberalization of the labour market and its first victim are the drivers of tanks and trucks.

The owners of petrol stations protest today too. They gathered for a protest march in downtown Athens in the morning. They are not satisfied with the maximum petrol prices that will be valid for seven days. The government was forced to take this measure, because the fuel prices have significantly jumped between Friday and Sunday, when the news of the forthcoming strike came out. Now the owners of petrol stations protest against the maximum prices that are forcing them to work for a zero profit or straight at a loss. Therefore, they decided to close as long as the petrol price ceiling is valid. However, most of the petrol stations in Athens are open and operating normally. According to their branch organization, those that are not working today are not more than 30 %.

Today is the 24-hour strike of railway workers in Greece.