Strikes against 'starvation' budget

A crew member stands at the entrance to an immobilised ferry-boat during today's 24-hour labour strike at Piraeus port (Reuters) Emergency staff ran hospitals, schools closed and thousands of austerity-weary citizens took to the streets on Thursday in a 24-hour general strike that tested the resolve of Lucas Papademos' national unity government.   Chanting "Get out, take the budget and get out of here!", protesters poured into Athens’ Syntagma Square to protest a new dose of austerity medicine prescribed by foreign lenders as the price for bailout loans.   On Tuesday, European leaders approved an 8bn euro tranche of aid this week to prevent the state from going bankrupt.   Unions representing about 2.5 million people – around half of the national workforce – called the strike to protest a new round of tax hikes and spending cuts in store for the population, already reeling from layoffs, lower pensions and salary cuts.   "They are killing us. They are killing workers. They are killing the Greek spirit," said Evangelos Routsas, a 55-year-old protester. "We are here to tell them we won't be silent."   The measures are part of the 2012 budget due to be approved by parliament next week.   "Enough is enough. We have taken to the streets to say that this budget is an austerity budget – a starvation budget –which must not be passed," Christos Kiosis, a union chief at Athens Water (EYDAP), told NET television.   Shops and businesses in central Athens were open, but public services faced disruption. Sailings from Piraeus were affected while trains, buses and trams halted services in the morning ahead of further stoppages in the evening.   The Acropolis was shut to tourists. Garbage collectors, doctors, journalists and bank employees also walked off the job. Many schools were shut.   Police said about 14,000 demonstrators had gathered in central Athens but unions put the number at more than 20,000. It was one of the most peaceful protests since the debt crisis gripped the country about two years ago and the marchers dispersed peacefully by early afternoon.   "Nothing has changed. It's the same policy. They have led us to the point of no return," said Panagiotis Proutzos, head of a Greek union for tourism workers. "Greece is at a dead end and this is catastrophic for workers."   ‘They should all leave’   Many protesters expressed the deep disgust Greeks feel towards their political class, with few expressing any hope of better times under a technocrat like Lucas Papademos.   "What do they expect when they appoint a non-democratically elected prime minister, who also happens to be a banker? Of course we are angry. They should all leave," said 46-year-old Manolis Katsandonis, a mechanical engineer.   The head of the Communist Party of Greece, Aleka Papariga, urged Greeks to fight austerity measures to prevent a "great tragedy".   Communist-affiliated union PAME vowed it would hold two more rallies in December.       Transport strikes   The Proastiakos suburban railway and Hellenic Railway (OSE), which runs the stretch from Doukissis Plakentias to Athens International Airport, were shut down as a result of the 24-hour strike.   There will be a number of work stoppages on Athens public transport on Thursday evening: buses and the ilektrikos (Isap green metro line) will stop running at 9pm, trolleys at 10pm and the tram at mignight. The metro will run as normal.