Greek Communist party labour union supporters occupied the finance ministry on Thursday (11 June) and prevented staff from entering over fears that the government will agree to further concessions in order to come to a cash-for-reform deal with lenders.
They hung a large banner illustrating George Papandreou as Memorandum 1, Antonis Samaras as Memorandum 2 and current Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, as Memorandum 3.
The banner reads: “We have bled enough, we have paid enough! People, take control of the situation – Block the new measures and a new bailout memorandum”
As ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Greek bonds further into junk status, questioning whether Athens can pay its debts, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras held a new round of late-night talks on Wednesday (10 June) with the leaders of Germany and France and expressed confidence that a solution was at hand.
“The prime minister’s statement about the (upcoming) deal and how it is going well, is like a declaration of war on the working classes,” said protester Effie Malliou.
Talks with lenders have been deadlocked over Greece’s rejection of the creditors’ demands for cuts in pensions and unpopular labour market reforms as conditions for releasing frozen bailout funds.
“There is no way we can endure any more under austerity, the working class’s income has already suffered a lot,” added Malliou.
