A day after Greece's parliament approved a three- year, multi-billion-euro package of austerity measures, the question that remains is whether the Greeks are "up for it." Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Athens earlier this week in the run-up to the passage of the austerity bill, which will allow Greece to receive a joint European Union-International Monetary Fund emergency loan worth 110 billion euros (160 billion dollars). Though the Greek parliament approved the 30-billion-euro austerity programme on Thursday, large scale rioting in Athens raised worries that the country may not be able to carry out the necessary spending cuts and tax hikes in the next few years. Anger over the measures that are to save the country from bankruptcy mounted as rioters set fire to buildings and cars, destroyed shops and tried to storm parliament. The remains of three people, including a pregnant woman, were later discovered inside a torched bank in central Athens, while at least 45 people, including 29 police officers, suffered injuries. The demonstrations came amid a 24-hour nationwide strike that grounded flights to and from Greece, paralysed sea and rail transport, shut down schools and government services, and left hospitals operating with emergency staff. The country's Socialist government vowed to push ahead with the austerity programme in the wake of the three deaths. Prime Minister George Papandreou has defended the measures, which call for savings largely through salary rollbacks, pension cuts and consumer tax hikes, saying the government will do everything possible to prevent Greece from defaulting. Greece urgently requires the EU/IMF bailout as it faces a May 19 deadline on a debt it says it cannot repay without new funds. The Greeks can be credited with founding the world's first democracy, but as Europe fights to bolster investor confidence in financial markets, many are now wondering whether Greece's crisis will also be credited for contaminating other debt-laden countries such as Portugal and Spain. The EU had hoped that activating the three-year Greek rescue programme would calm markets and give the government leeway to overhaul the heavily indebted economy. But European shares tumbled Friday amid deepening concerns that the Greek debt crisis will engulf other euro members and undercut the region's fragile economic recovery. Many Greek newspapers said the measures will serve as a kiss of death for the economy. "Slow death contract," a headline in the right-wing newspaper Eleftheor Typos read. "The memorandum the government signed with the EU Comission and the IMF many be promoted as an agreement that saves the country, but it is a death contract for the economy," it added. While many Greeks admit that some of the cutbacks are needed to put their country back on track, public anger is expected to escalate as many people begin feeling the austerity measures' effects. Recent polls showed that one in two Greeks say they are prepared to take to the streets to fight the austerity plans. "The government does not understand the extent of people's anger and frustration," said Stelios Kanakis, a taxi driver. "The situation will only get worse because many people believe that they have nothing to lose and nothing to hope for." Others believe the deaths, which shocked the public, could curtail the intensity of future demonstrations. Greece's main public sector union ADEDY and private sector GSEE said it has not ruled out holding further strikes next week in an effort to press the government to back down on its reforms. "We will not abandon our fight against the measures," ADEDY president Spiros Papaspyros said. "The huge turnout of people demonstrating has sent a clear message to the government that we will not allow the measures which the European Union and the IMF have imposed on our country to pass," said Giorgo Bekouris, a part-time teacher who earns less than 450 euros a month. Many commentators said the latest round of protests were a flashback to 2008 riots that lasted for weeks following the police shooting of a teenager. The riots caused millions of euros in damage, and engulfed thousands of angry young Greeks whose futures were already bleak due to the lack of jobs.
