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Clashes erupt at Greek anti-austerity protests amid general strike
ATHENS — Greek police clashed with anti-austerity protesters hurling stones and petrol bombs on the day of a general strike that brought much of the near-bankrupt country to a standstill.
In the second major walkout in three weeks on Thursday, almost 40,000 protesters marched in Athens in a bid to show EU leaders meeting in Brussels that new wage and pension cuts will only worsen their plight after five years of recession.
Tensions mounted when a small group of protesters began throwing pieces of marble, bottles and petrol bombs at police barricading part of the square in front of parliament, prompting riot police to fire several rounds of teargas to disperse them.
Wall Street shutdown fails as hundreds of Occupy protesters clash with police
Hundreds of Occupy protesters have clashed with police in New York’s financial district as authorities battled to thwart their bid to shut down Wall Street.
Police barricaded the narrow streets around the New York Stock Exchange and used batons to push protesters onto the sidewalk as they marched through the area during the morning rush hour to prevent financial workers getting to their desks.
About 75 people were arrested, police said, but by 11 a.m. protesters had returned to nearby Zuccotti Park, which had been the two-month-old Occupy Wall Street movement’s camp headquarters before police evicted them from the space on Tuesday.
Protesters banged drums and yelled “We are the 99%” — referring to their contention that the U.S. political system benefits only the richest 1%. Some chanted at police: “You’re sexy, you’re blue, now take
Greek protesters hurl stones, fire bombs as austerity strike begins
Demonstrators clashed with police in front of the Greek parliament on Wednesday as tens of thousands rallied at the start of a general strike timed to coincide with a vote on a bitterly resented new round of austerity measures.
Protesters showered police with stones and fire bombs on the steps of the parliament building, forcing them to retreat. The boom of tear gas canisters fired by police rang out over Syntagma Square while black smoke curled into the air.
“We have no future here. All young people want to go abroad and they are right to do so,” said Anastasia Kolokotsa, 17, protesting outside parliament.
“There are no jobs, there is nothing here.” (Photo: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)
Riot policemen stand near a burning parasol during protests against austerity measures in Athens, June 28, 2011. With Greece teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, parliament is due to vote this week on a package of spending cuts, tax increases and privatisations agreed as part of a massive bailout aimed at averting the euro zone’s first default. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)
Greek woes may eclipse Lehman: Ackermann
Deutsche Bank’s CEO described the situation in Greece as critical and warned contagion to other eurozone members could lead to a crisis bigger than the one sparked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Governments across the single currency bloc are pushing the banks, pension funds and insurance firms that hold Greek sovereign debt to play a role in a second rescue package for the heavily indebted eurozone nation.
Josef Ackermann cautioned against any steps that could spread the crisis to other vulnerable countries in the 12-year-old currency bloc.
“If it is Greece alone, that’s already big. But if other countries are drawn in through contagion, it could be bigger than Lehman,” the Deutsche Bank chief said at a Reuters banking event on Monday.
Greeks rage against austerity while EU argues
Striking Greeks raged against a new wave of austerity on Wednesday after eurozone finance ministers failed to agree how to make private creditors contribute to a second bailout for their indebted country.
As workers staged a national strike, thousands of protesters — some chanting “Thieves, traitors! Where did the money go” — massed at parliament to try to prevent lawmakers enacting more tax hikes, spending cuts and sell-offs of state property.
Photo: Protestors fight with riot police during massive clashes at the central Athens Syntagma square on June 15, 2011. (LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images)
![‘Virginity tests’ done, general saysAn Egyptian general said the military conducted forced “virginity tests” on female protesters in March, actions that have outraged Egyptian activists who called for demonstrations to condemn the incident.“The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine,” the general, who did not want to be named, told CNN.“We didn’t want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren’t virgins in the first place.“These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and [drugs],” he said.Amnesty International had previously called on the government to investigate accusations that the army tortured and abused women arrested in the protests. (Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lm42fsaOTz1qze0z6o1_1280.jpg)
‘Virginity tests’ done, general says
An Egyptian general said the military conducted forced “virginity tests” on female protesters in March, actions that have outraged Egyptian activists who called for demonstrations to condemn the incident.
“The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine,” the general, who did not want to be named, told CNN.
“We didn’t want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren’t virgins in the first place.
“These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and [drugs],” he said.
Amnesty International had previously called on the government to investigate accusations that the army tortured and abused women arrested in the protests. (Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images)
Photos of the Day, May 11, 2011
Riot policemen run through a cloud of teargas to avoid fire from an exploding Molotov cocktail during clashes with youths in central Athens May 11, 2011. Police fired teargas at dozens of youths hurling stones in central Athens on Wednesday as a 24-hour general strike against an EU/IMF prescribed austerity brought much of Greece to a halt during talks on the next slice of a bailout package. (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis)
Photos of the day, March 29, 2011
A worker in the non-profit sector, which includes nurses and social workers, throws his shoes onto the steps of the stock exchange building, during a protest in Brussels, March 29, 2011. The non-profit sector, numbering some 450,000 people, is complaining about the absence of a new working agreement, partly the result of Belgium lacking a fully fledged government. (REUTERS/Thierry Roge)
Photos: Tyler Anderson nominated for Photojournalist of the Year
National Post photographer, Tyler Anderson, has been nominated for Photojournalist of the Year by The News Photographers Association of Canada. Over 1400 images and projects from across Canada were entered in this year’s competition. Click through for more of Tyler’s photos.
Post staffers nominated for awards
The National Post earned three National Newspaper Awards nods and two nominations from The News Photographers Association of Canada on Monday, including one for the top honour of Photojournalist of the Year.
Photos of the day, March 13, 2011
Animal rights activists covered in fake blood, hold a protest calling for the abolition of bullfights in Valencia March 13, 2011. The Fallas Festival honours St Joseph and coincides with the bullfighting festival which opens the Spanish bullfight season. (REUTERS/Heino Kalis)
National Post editorial board: Tread softly on the shores of Tripoli
The troubling images of violence emerging from Libya are prompting some Canadians to demand decisive Western action aimed at ending Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s reign. Unfortunately, short of full-blown invasion — for which no Western nation has any appetite — there is not much that can be done to tip the balance in Libya’s internal conflict.
The West should tread carefully in Libya. While it is tempting to imagine the country’s conflict as a simple struggle between good and evil that can be brought to a speedy and decisive conclusion, the reality is more complicated than that. Aggressive intervention might easily end up doing more harm than good.
Photo: Rebels hold a young man at gunpoint, who they accuse of being a loyalist to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, between the towns of Brega and Ras Lanuf, March 3, 2011. (Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)
Gaddafi launches land, air offensive
The veteran ruler twinned the attack with a fiery propaganda broadside against the rebels, playing on both nationalist opinion and Western jitters by saying much blood would be shed in “another Vietnam” if foreign powers intervened in the crisis.
Photos of the day, March 1, 2011
A Yemeni protester chants slogans calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh during a massive anti-regime rally in the capital Sanaa on, March 1, 2011. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images)
Photos of the day: A veiled Yemeni woman wears a headband with the national flags colours as tens of thousands of anti-government Yemenis demonstrate after the Friday prayers in the capital Sanaa on February 25, 2011 in demand that veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh steps down. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images)
David Frum: Gaddafi learns a lesson in fair weather friendship
It’s been a bad 24 hours for Muammar Gaddafi. The Obama administration has urged that Libya be expelled from the UN Human Rights Council. Switzerland has frozen his assets. Human rights groups of various stripes are urging intervention. It all makes you wonder: where were they a month ago, when Qaddafi was just as heinous as he is today?
