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Debt-ridden Greece enters yet another week of anti-austerity protests. The country risks coming to a standstill as the parliament votes on a fresh austerity package of cost cuts and tax hikes for a new cash injection from its international creditors. A 24-hour strike starting Monday is expected to unite hospital doctors, journalists, Metro, taxi and train drivers and other transport workers, reports RT's Peter Oliver from Athens. Working unions of Greece are starting a general strike on Tuesday and are expected to continue it through Wednesday and even to the weekend, when the parliament is expected to vote for the 2013 budget. The peak of the protests is expected on Wednesday, when the largest rally against austerity will be held in the center of the capital Athens while the national air traffic control will join the strike and Greek airspace will be closed for commercial flights for three hours. Protesters want the authorities pay attention to the fact that living conditions in Greece have been going down for three consecutive years. The unions expect the disruption of public services and transport might influence the austerity plans of the government. The opposition says the fact that the government so easily accepts all austerity measures insisted on by the creditors should make people rise up and take back their country, with a new election to follow.
AFP Photo/Luoisa Gouliamaki
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