3 dead during Greek riots

[MNeagle]

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greek fire officials say three people have died in a blaze that broke out at an Athens bank during rioting over government austerity measures.

An estimated 100,000 people took to the streets Wednesday during a nationwide wave of strikes against spending cuts aimed at saving the country from bankrupty.

Protesters were hurling Molotov cocktails at police and buildings. At least two buildings were on fire, while hundreds of people were involved in the clashes.

The government agreed to drastic budget cuts to win bailout loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-dead-during-Greek-apf-4019313165.html?x=0

[old steel]

How does that old saying go?

"Beware of Greeks bearing gifts?"

How about beware of Greeks who are madder than hell at being ripped off by the banksters and politicians.

[MNeagle]

Needs to be updated:


Beware of Greeks burning banks!

[old steel]

Needs to be updated:


Beware of Greeks burning banks!


That is some hilarious stuff right there MNeagle.

Thanx for the coffee up the nose this AM.

:ROFL:

[wildcard]

Great vid here:

http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/19496141


Police fire teargas at a group of protesters as they try to storm parliament during a rally in parliament square in central Athens.

[wildcard]

Ah, Greece is on fire, the gulf is full of goo, PMs are taking a nosedive... Everything just as it should be. :dunno

[wildcard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rshdJZruH_0

[wildcard]

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125530&sectionid=351020606

Nationwide strike paralyzes Greece

http://www.presstv.ir/photo/20100505/Mirvarzandeh20100505065213653.jpg
Flights in and out of Greece were canceled at midnight, while trains and ferries stopped running early on Wednesday.


Angry workers go on strike in Greece against the government's spending cuts, bringing the country's flights, trains and ferries to a halt and paralyzing public services.

The general strike which hit the country involved teachers, bank employees and doctors protesting the Greek government's austerity measures.

The government argues that the spending cut plan -- which includes wage freezes, pension cuts and tax rises -- is essential for pulling the country out of a 110bn euro international debt.

Meanwhile, the public sector umbrella union in Greece, ADEDY, says low-income Greeks will suffer disproportionately as a result of the new harsh measures.

"The executive committee of ADEDY calls on the workers to strongly react against the unprecedentedly harsh and savage measures taken by the government," the union said in a statement.

Around 1,700 police officers were deployed to central Athens to maintain order during Wednesday's demonstrations.

The protests are believed to be the first major test of the Greek government's determination to implement austerity cuts, seeking to avert fiscal meltdown.

[Book]

http://images.quickblogcast.com/3/9/0/5/3/144289-135093/THIS____IS____SPARTA.jpg

[Horn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rshdJZruH_0



Looks like a planet of the apes clip, the surrounding architecture even.

[wildcard]

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii46/Dolvio/slob.jpg
Let's all watch Braveheart again!

;D

[Horn]

Better yet, we could reenact a particular civil war battle somewhere.

I should watch myself, there's probably some on here who do that shat. :-X

[MNeagle]

Craziest Photos Yet: War On The Streets Of Athens

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/athens-protest-photos-2010-5#ixzz0n66q219r



New photos from Greece show that today's demonstration is not a protest, it's a riot.

Over 100,000 Greeks are on the street. Three employees at Marfin Bank are dead from an arson attack on their building. Of course now the bank workers union is going on strike tomorrow, according to the WSJ.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/athens-protest-photos-2010-5#ixzz0n66wnskV

[Book]

New photos from Greece show that today's demonstration is not a protest, it's a riot.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3509/3934989471_82b63d9f06.jpg

BREAKING: Americans riot against their ZOG government!

:oo-->

[MAGNES]

Let's all watch Braveheart again!


BraveHeart is one of my favorite movies.
A lot of Mel's movies are great, last movie
I saw was his, don't watch the rest of the trash.

I really love the crazy Irish guy too,
reminds me of some people. ;D

[MAGNES]

I don't know what is going on in Greece other
than the regular news links most here read.

When you see KKE the commie party of Greece
pretending to be a leader, and when you see
the clowns on the street with red banners and
huge sticks, anarchist commies, those are not
legit protesters, some are paid by Soros,
same money as the "colored revolutions apparatus."
also during the last riots many foreigners were rioting,
of many colors, black, brown, albanians, you couldn't
figure out what was going on, I don't cheer on these
criminals, cause they are throwing molotovs at police
and robbing business's. The kid last time throwing a molotov
died of a ricochet warning shot, and he was a foreigner, Armenian,
then the anarchists rioted and foreigners.

Greece is still finished, it has a huge current account deficit
and no control of monetary policy, they bailed themselves
out, not Greece, the end result will be the same, end of
Euro, the timing was not right for them, that is all that
they changed, implosion later and world currency,
looks like they will inflate all of Europe, EUSSR, that is what I see coming,
cause even larger economies have huge current account deficits,
that is the root problem, like Peter Schiff discusses that China/USA.

Consider this, UK will do same.
UK budget deficit 'to surpass Greece's as worst in EU'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/05/uk-budget-deficit-worse-than-greece

JPM Chase Headquarters bombed in Greece, Feb 2010.
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/jpmorgan-chase-bank-bombed-amid-greek-budget-furor/19360668

[MAGNES]

http://i43.tinypic.com/4fzxxh.jpg

Look at the evil smurf, that is the EUSSR "leader" portrayed.
http://i42.tinypic.com/15ey51t.jpg

[Steal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0DtMvPByzk&playnext_from=TL&videos=XnxRFhP08OY&feature=sub

[Horn]

These guys seem pretty determined to me?

[MAGNES]

Thanks for all the vids and links, especially WildCard.

The storming of Parliament is very interesting,
I don't see any commie flags or the anarchist
flags. Those are regular protesters it seems.
The crowd roars. Politicians are probably scared.
Nov 17 of past was just a few average Joe's
and they murdered many politicians and important
people, even CIA officers, as payback for
the murder of students on Nov 17.



These guys seem pretty determined to me?


Those are the communist/anarchist , usually student groups,
funded by Soros, from the same funds that did the "colored
revolutions" in Europe, Georgia, etc, they riot and break things
and legitimate protesters are ignored, that is what happens.
Many of them are not even Greek nationals, like during
the last riots, they robbed businesses and goods showed
up in Albania. Bankers paid for them.

French and German Banks.
http://www.businessinsider.com/greece-pounded-collapse-2010-4#french-banks-represent-over-25-of-claims-1

[MAGNES]

Why A Eurozone Break-Up Would Trigger The Mother Of All Financial Crises
http://www.businessinsider.com/eurozone-break-up-would-trigger-the-mother-of-all-financial-crises-2010-5

[Horn]

Yes, my guess is that they would try pass the hot potato Euro around to finally include the U.K.

[wildcard]

Yeah, the roar of that crowd is awesome isn't it? The first time I listened to it I had my stereo hooked up to the speakers and the sound doesn't start for a few seconds... I heard it and was like wtf is that??? I'd hate to think that crowd was out for my blood.

*I hope Americans find their courage and passion soon.

[Horn]

Yeah it seemed they could easily have stormed over that small line of stormtroopers.

[MAGNES]

They will never do the right thing, why ?

This is important to understand, right wingers
in Greece and the diaspora understand it well.
My family and half of Greece has always hated
this family. Things were/are very polarized.

The Papandreou Prime Minister's family going back
2 generations to his father and grandfather have
always been partners of the banksters.

His grandfather was a traitorous commie leader in the brutal
Greek civil war, they burned half the countryside down, and
murdered the educated class in the cities, his father, the son
of the commie war leader, opened the borders for criminal
communists to come back, they fled for fear or reprisal,
in the 50's nobody would admit to being a communist,
even criminal payback was administered in places,
in the 70's the commie party began to rebuild it's image,
and on top of all this history, the Grandfather came from the USA,
and the Father came from Canada, so these people are international,
and they are half Jewish, even the Grandfathers wife
probably was. They have always been partners of the
banksters, always. They were planted there by the banksters.

First thing Papandreou wanted to do was legalize the illegals,
true to his roots.

Half of Greece is right wing, something bad is coming.
Funny thing to say about a socialist country I know.
On some issues it is 90% right wing view, like immigration.

The faster it burns down the better,
that is my sincere view, to wake the
masses.

A Hellenic Patriot would of destroyed the Euro and EUSSR
and been supported. Nobody wants it.




Yeah it seemed they could easily have stormed over that small line of stormtroopers.

Watched more than one version, that is a totally different
crowd than those clowns with the anarchist flags. The anarchist
bring big sticks and molotovs. Those regular people are pissed.
They are trying to be civilized. That is what tells me something
big may be coming.

[EE_]

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww217/MaggiegirlEE/riot.jpg

[Steal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vmuYIu9b4w&playnext_from=TL&videos=KDXfsYuQPhI&feature=sub

[Horn]

So the Soros red flag protesters are fakes, while the real conservative protesters use such things as rocks & molotovs.

I can see this, created as some form of nuevo non-lethal love baton wacks, or "socially acceptable" protesting.

[wildcard]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/greek-riots-escalate-branch-finance-ministry-set-fire

Greek Riots Escalate, Branch Of Finance Ministry Set On Fire



Things are heating up again in Greece. Literally. After a firebomb at a Marfin branch earlier today was the cause of three tragic deaths, the latest building to succumb to rioting pyrotechnics is a branch of the Greek ministry of finance, reports Market News. We eagerly await for the Greek FinMin to announce that the docs burned down were the only copies of all sovereign lending agreements with foreign entities... all $300 billion of them. Perhaps now that Greece has lost all control is why the Greek president Karolos Papoulias just said that "The country is at the edge of the abyss." Luckily for the country, its riot police is not striking just yet. Which is more than one can say about Greek journalists: "Even Greek journalists were on strike, but they later went back to work in order to cover the riots." And that about explains all you need to know about Greece.

From Market News:


ATHENS (MNI) – A building belonging to Greece’s Finance Ministry was set afire Wednesday by rioters protesting the stringent four-year austerity plan the Greek government has agreed to accept in exchange for up to E110 billion in aid from fellow Eurozone countries and theInternational Monetary Fund.

The Finance Ministry issued a statement Wednesday night saying that no crucial documents had been lost, though the damage to the building was extensive.

The fire came on a day when a general strike against the government’s new fiscal plan erupted into violence, leaving three dead and tens of others wounded. In Athens, protesters gathered around the Parliament while some groups threw fire bombs at buildings, cars and banks. The police answered with tear gas and arrests.

The package of spending cuts and tax hikes is intended to reduce the public budget deficit by 5.5 percentage points of GDP this year alone, from 13.6% to 8.1%. It is envisioned that by 2014, the deficit will be brought under the EU’s limit of 3%. But in that same year, outstanding public debt is projected to be an astronomical 144% of GDP, up from 113% in 2009 — leading many to predict that a Greek bond default is inevitable.

All we know is that Lazard, which no way, no how is advising on a restructuring, is scrambling more furiously than the fine folks at Liberty 33 to come up with "imaginative solutions."

[Horn]

Lemme guess, most the rioters make approx. 12,001 euros per year?


The Greek Ministry of Finance announced changes to the tax system in February 2010, which affect approximately 8.5 million taxpayers and apply to both salaried and self-employed workers.

Please be aware that this is a brief overview of income brackets, tax burden and collecting receipts. A comprehensive explanation of taxes in Greece and all changes to everything is impossible to accomplish in one article, especially since laws change often and many times contain loopholes.

Specific questions should be directed to a trustworthy, competent accountant. I cannot stress this enough.

*Article last updated March 16, 2010.
How much income tax will I pay?

There are eight nine basic tax brackets, determined by annual income:

► €0–12,000: 0%

► €12,001–€16,000: 18%

► €16,001–€22,000: 24%

► €22,001–€26,000: 26%

► €26,001–€32,000: 32%

► €32,001–€40,000: 36%

► €40,001–€60,000: 38%

► €60,001–€100,000: 40%

► More than €100,000: 45%

Each child increases the tax-free threshold: One child, €1,500; two children, €3,000; additional children, €2,000 each.

Credit link: http://livingingreece.gr/2010/02/12/taxes-greece/#ixzz0n7ZkiUmy

[EE_]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlnOv-tVpYw

[beeks]

There is huge demonization of greeks going on. Media portrais them as lazy-stealing sobs. Bunch of crap if you ask me. All media is talking about saving greeks. Yea right. They are saving their own lazy asses and not greek.

Something to think about :

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/05/03/greeces-problem-is-high-tax-rates-not-tax-evasion/

[chad]

wait until that comes here. people ten times more pissed off than that with guns, training, + survival gear.

[gunny highway]

wait until that comes here. people ten times more pissed off than that with guns, training, + survival gear.


took the words right out of my mouth. this should be considered a shot across the bow to every American. i shudder to think about what this place will look like if shit jumps off like it did in Greece. what's worse is we have a military sworn to obey the POTUS, a military much more capable than that of the Greeks.

[wildcard]

Aw, c'mon, there has to be a few people that want to go join the party.

link
(http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-06/greek-riots-threaten-to-scare-tourists-key-to-economy-update2-.html)

Greek Riots Threaten to Scare Tourists Key to Economy

May 06, 2010, 10:06 AM EDT


By Armorel Kenna, Natalie Weeks and Mary Childs

May 6 (Bloomberg) -- The protests and riots in Athens threaten to undermine tourism, one of Greece’s few growth industries and the country’s best hope of easing the pain of its unprecedented austerity program.

“People will think twice about going to Greece,” said Ian Gamse, a director at London-based Otus & Co., which advises Marriott International Inc. and Hilton Worldwide. “People who have booked are going to start calling their tour operators. If Greece can’t get the situation under control, it is going to be a big problem.”

The demonstrations, which left three people dead and four buildings burned yesterday, come as the spring tourist season is getting under way. Tourism accounts for about 16 percent of Greece’s gross domestic product and about one in five jobs, according to estimates by the London-based World Travel and Tourism Council.

Greece’s GDP will decline 4 percent this year and 2.6 percent next year, according to the Finance Ministry. European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said yesterday that the austerity measures Greece agreed to for its May 2 bailout package will deepen the contraction by 1 percentage point this year and by 2 percentage points next year.

Wage, Pension Cuts

Prime Minister George Papandreou accepted the measures in return for 110 billion euros ($141 billion) in funding from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Union groups have called the austerity plan “savage.”

Three people died in a fire in Athens set by breakaway self-styled anarchists yesterday during a general strike, the third this year, called against a second set of wage cuts and tax increases. Demonstrators trying to gain access to the parliament building clashed with helmeted and padded riot police. Tear gas was fired at another crowd that threw rocks and set trashcans on fire at the central bank building.

The violence made Megan McCulla, a 24-year-old who works in marketing at West Virginia Junior College in Morgantown, West Virginia, consider canceling her vacation plans. She and her husband had bought tickets to spend 10 days on the island of Patmos.

“My mom’s called me, my dad’s called,” McCulla said in a telephone interview. Her husband was worried, she said, that “if we do go there and it heats up again we might get stuck. We may not go.”

Wooing Germany

Even before yesterday’s riots, the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises was planning a public-relations initiative to counter the effect of weeks of strikes and protests. Its first target: Germany, where public resentment has been rising against the government’s contribution to the bailout package.

Nikolaos Kanellopoulos, head of Greece’s National Tourism Organization, will lead a committee to monitor the country’s image as a holiday destination and booking levels, according to an e-mailed statement from the Athens-based tourism and culture ministry today. The committee will also keep the media informed.

Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Angela Gerekou asked the EU to ease visa requirements on April 15, according to the state-run Athens News Agency. The next week, Gerekou called for a freeze on hotel prices. Greece may lift the ban on non-EU flagged cruise ships docking at its island ports, Gerekou said on April 21, according to ANA.

Safety Concerns?

While hotel rates across Western Europe are up from last year, Greece has increased 4 percent while France is up 14 percent, according to Dan Toporek, a spokesman for Travelocity.com Inc., an online travel agency based in Southlake, Texas.

The negative headlines may be an initial deterrent for travelers concerned about safety, said Drew Patterson, chief executive officer of Jetsetter, a private luxury discount agency based in New York.

“Consumers do read things in the press and they do respond,” Patterson said in a telephone interview. “When things blow up, when there’s negative news in the press, that will slow down the booking pace.”

The dollar has gained 11 percent against the euro this year, making it cheaper for Americans to travel to Greece. The euro, which last year strengthened to as much as $1.51, dropped below $1.29 yesterday for the first time in more than a year.

The yield-premium investors demand to buy Greek 10-year bonds comparable to German debt widened to 776 basis points today. The ASE general benchmark index rose 1.4 percent to 1,685.45 at 4:52 p.m. in Athens trading.

Falling Occupancy

The violence came as tourism was showing indications of increasing. Passenger arrivals at Athens International Airport SA rose 10 percent in the first quarter. Revenue from tourism climbed 1 percent in the first two months of the year to 202.9 million euros, according to Bank of Greece data.

In Athens, though, there were signs the crisis was keeping tourists away. Hotel occupancy in the city fell 1.4 percent in the year through March, according to STR Global, a London-based research company.

Travel providers are cutting prices to Greece. STA Travel, the world’s largest student travel agency, reduced prices for its Greece packages as much as 30 percent.

German “bookings for Greece are underperforming other summer bookings and this trend has accelerated in April,” said Doerte Nordbeck of the market research institute GfK AG in Nuremberg.

GfK analyzes data collected from 1,200 representative German travel agencies. Summer bookings are down 6 percent for Greece and fell 12 percent in April, both compared with the same period a year earlier.

Alexander Rusch, a 57-year-old worker at a Kerrygold Co Ltd. factory near Dusseldorf, said in an interview that he and his wife had considered vacationing in Greece for the first time this year.

“We decided to go to Mallorca once again because of all the frightening news we saw on TV,” he said.

--With assistance from Holger Elfes in Dusseldorf. Editors: Anne Swardson, Paul Jarvis.

[wildcard]

Great interview in this vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPkXyihut3E

[wildcard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfqD9DRZmWw&feature=player_embedded#!