More than 20,000 protesters marched through Athens to parliament Thursday as unions challenged Greece's harsh austerity measures with their fourth general strike this year - and the first since three people died when a bank was torched. The rally ended peacefully, but city officials and shopkeepers had taken extensive precautions in case the protest turned violent, like the one two weeks ago. Store owners closed up and lowered protective shutters before the march got under way. And police deployed 1,700 officers and detained 36 people in an early show of force. Demonstrators outside the parliament building banged pots and pans and shouted “Thieves, thieves!” but riot police held them back. The strike closed schools, halted ferries and trains, and kept hospitals running with only emergency staff. The Acropolis and other ancient sites in Athens were also shut. Premier George Papandreou, visiting Lebanon, said he sympathized with many of the protesters. “The Greek people are understandably voicing their views about the economic crisis, and it is painful,” Papandreou said. “We understand this and I understand this myself. We also know that we must move ahead with these changes in order to make the country with a viable economy, a competitive economy.” Unions are protesting harsh measures imposed by the cash-strapped government. During Greece's last general strike May 5, three workers - including a pregnant woman - died when a bank was torched by rioters. Protesters observed a minute of silence for the three victims before the march. Public anger has grown at deep pension and salary cuts, as well as steep tax hikes, imposed in an attempt to pull Greece out of an unprecedented debt crisis. The measures were needed for Greece to receive a $134.97 billion three-year rescue loan package from other EU countries and the International Monetary Fund that staved off bankruptcy.
