More than 50 thousands of protesters are marching through the streets of the fortified city of Thessaloniki to protest against the austerity measures brought on by the government as well as the proclaimed employee layoffs in the public sector.
The centre of Thessaloniki has been under siege by the Police since Friday as the city is hosting the annual commercial International Fair Trade. Preventative arrests have been held which are estimated to be more than 30. Among the detainees are protesters that have arrived in Thessaloniki to participate in the demonstrations.
The march organised by trade unions, the Greek anti -bail out Syriza party , PAME, a coalition of local people against the gold mining,VIOMET- a self management occupied factory as well as other left -wing parties and anarchist blocks specifically opposes the budget cuts which are being forced leading the country to extreme poverty and raising the unemployment rate to 68 per cent among young people.
Earlier this week, the Greek Parliament passed its latest package of austerity measures to take 15,500 workers off the public payroll. It was forced upon in return for the latest loans of €8.8bn given by the IMF – troika.
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in the private sector, with more than 1.2 million people, or 24.4 percent of the workforce.
Teacher associations have also made a dominant presence as they have proclaimed a strike after the opening of the school year against recent teachers' layoffs. Prime Minister , Mr Antonis Samaras with the coalition party supported by PASOK has set out his government's policies concerning further layoffs among teachers, doctors, nurses , municipal employees, as well as University administration workforce.
The demonstarion is reaching ERT 3 offices where hundreds of people together with the ERT journalists and technicians that were fired last June after government's shutting off the state television broadcaster have already gathered.
Early this afternoon the president of Syriza, Mr Alexis Tsipras gave an interview in the occupied offices of ERT3 as an act of solidarity for the struggle of the fired employees of the real state television broadcaster.
The left wing opposition leader of Syriza demanded elections saying that Mr Samaras and his coalition party supported by the vice president Mr Venizelos who with their austerity policies have suspended democracy and led the Greek society to poverty and deprevation must resign.
Mr Pablo Cezar Groux Canedo, the minister of Culture of Bolivia, has been in Thessaloniki since Thursday where he met representatives of the Movement against Privitisation as well as Mr Alexis Tsipras. Mr Canedo conveyed messages of solidarity and support on behalf of Bolivia's President Mr Morales.
alterthess.gr