Greece crippled by general strike

More than 30,000 angry Greeks demonstrated today near the country’s parliament to object to continuing austerity measures. Schools, public transportation, hospitals and airports were either shut down entirely or operating on reduced service as part of a general strike. It’s the first major strike in Greece since the New Year. Greece secured a $150-billion bailout from the EU and the IMF last May when its public debt rendered it nearly insolvent in return for cutting budgets. That has hurt many Greek workers. "We are facing long-term austerity, with high unemployment and destabilizing our social structure," Stathis Anestis, the deputy leader of Greece’s big GSEE union, told Associated Press. At least one policeman was lit on fire by a Molotov cocktail hurled by a protester. Police used tear gas to control the crowds.

The Telegraph