On Wednesday, the 28th of June, tear gas, fire, and smoke filled the air as thousands of protesters took to the streets of Athens, Greece to say NO to a budget-cutting austerity program demanded by the European Union and the IMF. Protesters set flaming barricades, rolled flaming dumpsters through the streets, and hammered police under a barrage of stones while the cops fired tear gas into crowds. The police were only able to catch 18 people and 4 cops ended up in the hospital with battle injuries.
The fighting took place one day before the Greek Parliment was scheduled to vote on the austerity package.
(tape-Greek financial reporter for an Athens newspaper,interfviewed live from the war zone by Russia Today:)
(Synopsis of tape: Sources in the European Union say a NO vote means no more loans follows by an immediate default on the Greek government's debt. Many in Greece consider this a bluff, as it would be followed by the collapse of the Euro and other banks making the demands. Speaking of Germany, some in Greece say the austerity would be on the same scale as that in Germany that brought down the Weimar Republic. Not only that, the interest alone on the bailout will exceed the total value of all the loans!
..."The Greek people will not tolerate")
You damned right they won't and they aren't! On Wednesday, the 29th of June, the entire Greek Parliment had to fight their way through rioters before they could even take a vote. Needless to say, just like members of Congress in this country would, they sold out their country for the banksters:
(tape-vote)
There's just one problem-the Greek people won't cooperate! A key part of the austerity package is taxes on minumum wage earners and other low income people, but many in Greece say they will quit their jobs i, as it will no longer pay enough to work to justify their time. That will make revenue go down and expenses go up, opposite the plan's intention. As this is being debated unions throughout Greece are on strike,a "Mass walkout" meaning a general strike has been announced beginning later this week-and general strikes close factories and shops, again causing tax revenue to plummet.
With opposition like this, if the IMF-advised austerity program passes the final vote tomorrow, the Greek government should expect more strikes, tax evasion, workplace occupations, forcible resistance to eviction from public housing, the whole works! These street riots might be just the beginning of something that ends either in the Greek government repudiating their debt, or else in the complete collapse of the Greek government's authority over anyone.
Hey GOP, Tea Party, governor of Wisconsin-want general strikes and riots here? Just keep pushing those budget repair bills!
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