Greece is experiencing its worst violence in years as outrage boiled over Sunday about the passage of a hugely unpopular bailout deal and austerity measures. Protesters attacked police with fire bombs and stones. There have been more than 50 arrests, 150 shops looted, and 100 riot police have been injured.
Kostas Tsironis AP Photo
At least 45 buildings in the capital, Athens, were set on fire Sunday night.
The violence centered in Athens, where over 80,000 protesters took to the streets, some of them attacking police and destroying property.
Hundreds of protesters and police officers were injured, and local Greek Sky television reported that at least twice, security forces ran out of tear gas.
Yiorgos Karahalis Reuters via Landov
A protester clashes with a riot policeman in front of the Greek parliament building. The demonstrators were angered over the passage of austerity measures that would allow the European Union to give the country a $4.3 billion rescue package. The measures were approved by a 199 to 74 margin in a late-night vote, but the victory was bittersweet for Greek leaders. “We must understand and persuade Greek citizens that when you have to choose between bad and worse, you must choose the bad to avoid the worst,” Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos told parliament.
Greek leaders had until Feb. 15 to adopt the austerity measures, but they were compelled to push the bill through parliament over the weekend—before world markets opened Monday morning—in an attempt to show European leaders that the country deserved to be saved.
Orestis Panagiotou / EPA-Landov
The Greek cuts include trimming 15,000 public sector jobs and mandating a 22 percent decrease in the minimum wage in the private sector—the third such slice in less than a year.
Milos Bicanski / Getty Images
Protestors help carry away an injured man. Many Greeks are concerned that the minimum-wage cut would drop the base pay for most non-professional jobs from $1,000 to $795 a month for those who already have regular jobs, and allow employers to pay 10 percent less to new employees they hire.
People walk past graffiti which reads "rob to gain money" on a wall of the central bank of Greece in Athens. Prime Minister Lucas Papademos called for calm. “This vandalism, violence ... they have no place in a democracy and will not be tolerated," he said in a television address. “I call on the public to show calm. At these crucial times, we do not have the luxury of this type of protest. I think everyone is aware of how serious the situation is.”
