World Business
Greek bank workers strike over deaths
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-05-06 17:04
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ATHENS, Greece – Greek bank workers walked off the job in a 24-hour strike Thursday to protest the deaths of three colleagues trapped in a bank torched by protesters during massive demonstrations against the government's new harsh austerity measures.
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A bank employee reacts after being rescued from a fire that broke out when the bank was attacked during anti-government protests in central Athens,May 5, 2010. [Agencies] |
Wednesday's deaths - the first such fatalities in protests in nearly 20 years in Greece - have shocked the public in a country where violence during demonstrations is frequent but rarely results in casualties.
"I have difficulty in finding the words to express my distress and outrage," President Karolos Papoulias said late Wednesday. "Our country came to the brink of the abyss. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that we don't step over the edge."
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Deputies were debating the measures Thursday and were to vote on passing the draft bill on Thursday night. Prime Minister George Papandreou's Socialists hold a comfortable majority of 160 deputies in the 300-seat Parliament, and the bill is expected to pass easily.
Greece urgently needs the first installment of loans from the rescue package if it is to avoid defaulting on May 19, when it has 8.5 billion euros in bonds maturing. The measures slash salaries and pensions and hike taxes, outraging many Greeks.
