http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7113822.ece


Policemen try to escape a fire from a petrol bomb during riots at a May Day rally in Athens

Tear gas has been fired at demonstrators in Greece protesting against the government’s planned austerity cuts to save their failing economy.

Thousands of left-wing and union demonstrators have descended on Athens for a march to oppose the wage cuts, tax rises and pension reductions being
proposed.

Riot police deployed tear gas into the crowds after protesters hurled rocks at the Finance Ministry this morning.

There were similar scenes in the northern city of Thessaloniki as youths attacked business premises, smashing store fronts and ATMs.

Greece must cut it’s budget deficit by 24 billion euros to secure a £120 billion loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund for the
next three years.

The details of the cuts will not be revealed until after the loan is secured, but Prime Minister George Papandreou has warned the country to prepare for a
period of hardship.

The French government said today it hopes to have a deal agreed by the end of the weekend.

Without the loan the financially crippled country will almost certainly default on its debts, which would not only be devastating for its own
economy, but send shockwaves throughout the eurozone.

However many Greeks are opposing the austerity drive and a number of left-wing groups have vowed to escalate the public protests.

Saturday’s demonstration marched passed the Athens offices of the European Union and US Embassy.

Nikos Diamantopoulos, who was participating in a rally organized by pro-Communist unions, said: “These measures are death. How people are going
to live tomorrow, how they’re going to survive, I do not understand.”

Left Coalition leader Alexis Tsipras told reporters at one of the Athens rallies: “The Greek people do not owe anything to anybody. Those who have
brazenly robbed public money and pension funds.”

Government spending in Greece has run-up debts equalling 115 percent of the gross domestic product, resulting in a lowering of their economy’s credit
rating. Last week the country’s debts were downgraded to “junk” status,
sparking a drop in the value of the euro and fears of a “contagion effect”
in the similarly vulnerable south European economies of Spain and Portugal.