The Guardian –By 10:45 AM time central Athens had been turned into a vast mass of protestors with Pame, the militant communist-backed union, drawing thousands onto the streets in a march on parliament, up from Omonia square.
Taxes, salaries and what is widely perceived as the ransacking of the social security system in the form of pension cuts, are the focus of the protests – and the myriad banners held aloft by protestors. Their central slogan; “No to new and old memorandums.” Under bright sunshine Klafmonos – so named for the workers who wept in the square more than a century ago when successive governments swept them from their public sector jobs – has become a sea of good-natured resistance.
Giorgos Tsoukas, an erstwhile factory manager, says he spent 40 years contributing to social security payments only “to see it all collapse before I could enjoy any of it.”
“Every month my pension has been cut by 50 euro or more and the government expects me to keep coughing up more in taxes.”
Marilena Pavlou, a nursery school teacher told Helena Smith that the mood could soon darken.
“The situation is tragic and soon when the government pushes us more on the tax front, more on the cuts’ front it won’t be good natured at all.
“Everyone I know is dreading this winter. We are caught up in a vicious cycle, the government knows that, the people know that, the Europeans know it too. All my friends who supported Syriza are beginning to leave en masse. It’s scary.”
