cheka.
4th October 2016, 04:45 AM
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/03/greek-police-fire-teargas-at-pensioners-during-anti-austerity-protest-athens
Greek police have fired teargas and pepper spray at protesting pensioners after a group of them attempted to push over a police van near the office of the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, whose leftwing government faces mounting pressure over planned austerity measures.
More than a thousand people, some of them with canes, took part in the rally in Athens on Monday. Protesters chanted: “Shame on you, shame on you!” with one group of elderly demonstrators trying to tip over the van, triggering the police response.
Protesters ran, with one grey-haired man falling to his knees and coughing and several others appearing to be in distress.
No arrests or injuries were reported. In response to opposition party criticism, police said they were suspending indefinitely the use of teargas at “rallies of workers and pensioners”.
Greece’s leftwing government has imposed cuts on pensions this year as part of its bailout commitments to international lenders, with the International Monetary Fund pressing for tougher measures.
The latest round of cuts follows six years of bailout-related austerity measures, while nearly a quarter of Greeks remain unemployed and no longer eligible for state benefits.
Greek police have fired teargas and pepper spray at protesting pensioners after a group of them attempted to push over a police van near the office of the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, whose leftwing government faces mounting pressure over planned austerity measures.
More than a thousand people, some of them with canes, took part in the rally in Athens on Monday. Protesters chanted: “Shame on you, shame on you!” with one group of elderly demonstrators trying to tip over the van, triggering the police response.
Protesters ran, with one grey-haired man falling to his knees and coughing and several others appearing to be in distress.
No arrests or injuries were reported. In response to opposition party criticism, police said they were suspending indefinitely the use of teargas at “rallies of workers and pensioners”.
Greece’s leftwing government has imposed cuts on pensions this year as part of its bailout commitments to international lenders, with the International Monetary Fund pressing for tougher measures.
The latest round of cuts follows six years of bailout-related austerity measures, while nearly a quarter of Greeks remain unemployed and no longer eligible for state benefits.