Greek police fire tear gas at protesting cabbies

[Bosonic]

Source: AP

THESSALONIKI, Greece — Riot police fired tear gas Saturday to disperse anti-austerity protesters armed with flare guns, stones and sticks as clashes broke out in Greece's second-largest city.

From taxi drivers to sports fans, thousands of angry citizens were protesting in the northern port of Thessaloniki before the prime minister's annual speech on the economy.

George Papandreou's government has imposed painful austerity measures — cutting pensions and salaries while raising taxes and retirement ages — to secure vital international rescue loans worth €219 billion ($302.6 billion). But its efforts to economize while reviving a fast-contracting economy amid record unemployment have faltered, sparking new market distress.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44467037#.TmuR2ew1agB

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Weird title, it's Cabbies++ really

[alp227]

1. Greece braced for mass protests as austerity cuts bite

More than 5,000 police have been mobilised in Athens amid government fears of a repetition of last June's violent riots in the capital.

Another 5,000 are being deployed in Thessaloniki where the Green prime minister George Papandreou is due to give a speech defending the harsh fiscal cuts pledged by his government.

He is expected to face mass protests after he announced 10,000 immediate public sector job cuts as he comes under mounting pressure to save Greece's position in the eurozone.

Thessaloniki is preparing for huge unrest – police have erected metal barricades to prevent protesters from storming the grounds of the International Trade Fair, where Papandreou will deliver his speech.

full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/10/greece-braced-protests-public-sector-cuts

[Hawkowl]

2. I wonder

I wonder if the government has cut police pensions and benefits?