Greek anger over new austerity measures erupted into flaming protests Wednesday in Athens, as rioters tried to storm Parliament, hurled Molotov cocktails at police and torched buildings. Three people were killed in the melee, trapped in a burning bank. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets as part of nationwide strikes to protest new taxes and government spending cuts demanded by the International Monetary Fund and other European nations before heavily indebted Greece gets a bailout to keep it from defaulting. In Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel called the bailout critical for all of Europe. “Nothing less than the future of Europe, and with that the future of Germany in Europe, is at stake,” Merkel told lawmakers. “We are at a fork in the road.” In the streets of the Greek capital, demonstrators chanted “Thieves, thieves!” as they attempted to break through a riot police cordon guarding Parliament and chased ceremonial guards away from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the building. Tear gas drifted across the city center as rioters toss paving stones and fire bombs at police. Firefighters struggled to put out the flames as at least two buildings were set on fire. Protesters set up burning barricades and torched cars and a fire truck. Fire Brigade spokesman Panayiotis Falaras said three bodies were found in the wreckage of a Marfin Bank branch on the route of the protest march, and another five people were rescued from the burning building's balcony. “We took 15 minutes to get to the site because it was very difficult to get there,” he said, adding that it was not clear whether those who died had suffocated from the smoke or burned to death. Parliament speaker Filipos Petsalnikos said the dead were two women and a man, and Parliament held a minute of silence for the dead. The marches came amid a 24-hour nationwide general strike that grounded all flights to and from Greece, shut down ports, schools and government services and left hospitals working with emergency medical staff. The Acropolis and all other ancient sites were closed and journalists also walked off the job, suspending television and radio news broadcasts. Some media – including state television and the Ta Nea newspaper website – later broke the strike to report on the deaths. The loans are aimed at preventing Athens' debt troubles from becoming a wider crisis for the euro by engulfing other financially troubled countries such as Spain and Portugal. Greece faces a May 19 due date on debt it says it can't repay without the bailout.
