Deputy PM : Greek democracy harmed by anti-austerity protests

Ongoing anti-austerity protests which serve union interests instead of the common good could harm democracy in Greece, Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos said here on Friday. He made the comments as strikes of the public transit sector and tonnes of rubbish in the Athens streets heat up tensions and the nerves of residents in the Greek capital. "There are limits. The state mechanism should function. Nobody has a right to occupy the General Accounting Office. This is a challenge to Democracy which should protect herself in the name of law and national interest," said Venizelos, who is also the country's finance minister. He made the remarks at the Greek parliament on Friday, referring to an image of disorder created by a series of sit-in protests in Greek ministries, state organizations premises, and strikes that paralyzed the debt-ridden country over the past few weeks. The minister argued that unpopular cutbacks on wages, tax increases and a labor reserve scheme that opened the way to early retirement with reduced pay for 30,000 civil servants by 2012, were "absolutely necessary" to convince EU/International Monetary Fund creditors to release further aid funds to Greece in order to escape a potentially disastrous default. Public transit unions in the meantime were continuing for a second day of their strike protesting fresh austerity measures on top of similar policies introduced last year. Buses, trolleys, trams and the subway all came to a halt on Friday Athens citizens struggled once again to reach work while tourists wandered aimlessly, as taxi owners, who oppose the deregulation of their sector, also went on a 24-hour strike and a demonstration against the Finance Ministry and the parliament. "If we and our families will be destroyed, everybody will go down with us," chanted protesting taxi drivers. The drivers claim that due to the reform they would lose overnight up to 200,000 euros (about 277,280 U.S dollars) they had paid under the table to buy state issued taxi licenses from previous holders over the past three decades. The government, on the other hand, claims that the liberalization of the market and the issuance of licenses at a low fee will boost competition to the benefit of the economy. In the meantime, despite warnings by public health supervisors and the Greek Center for Disease Control and Prevention that public health is at risk due to tons of uncollected rubbish over the past 12 days, municipal garbage disposal workers continued their mobilizations for a second consecutive week. Friday's developments were not broadcast at Greek national television ERT, state-run radio channels nor the national news agency AMNA, as journalists working in public media were on a 48-hour strike since Thursday. The situation is expected to worsen, as customs officials have began a ten-day strike, which has caused fear for food and fuel shortages. Tax collectors are going to start a four-day strike on Monday October 17, and dock workers will join on October 18 and 19 to coincide with a new 48-hour nationwide general strike called by public and private sector umbrella unions ADEDY and GSEE on October 19 and 20.