Beware of Greeks bearing Red Flags

Greeks protest austerity cuts at May Day rally

Athens, Greece (CNN) -- Greek protesters clashed with police who fired tear gas during the annual May Day rally on Saturday in Athens, where thousands of people gathering for the event seethed over government belt-tightening plans to deal with the country's debt problems.

Waving red flags, the crowd at times surged toward the line of police, who wore helmets and carried riot shields. The police pushed them back each time.

[...]

About 12,000 people were protesting in Athens, and rallies were also taking place in the northern city of Thessaloniki, the spokesman said. Protesters there smashed two ATMs, the glass frontage of a bank, and a car, but no one was arrested or being questioned, the spokesman said.

The annual May Day rally has taken on an angry tone this year as the Greek government prepares to enact austerity measures to cap its large deficit and massive debt.

The package of measures was expected to be revealed Sunday. It is likely to include cuts in civil servants' salaries, pay freezes, reductions in pension payments, changes to tax rates, and increases in the value-added tax consumers pay on purchases, Ilias Iliopoulos, the general secretary of the public sector union ADEDY said Thursday.

The International Monetary Fund and the European Union are discussing a bailout for Greece, whose economic problems threaten the stability of the common European currency, the euro.

The amount of the aid package being negotiated was not clear, but the IMF and EU are likely to demand the austerity measures as a price for a bailout.

Greece's national debt of 300 billion euros ($394 billion) is bigger than the country's economy, and some estimates predict it will reach 120 percent of gross domestic product in 2010. [...]

It seems like everyone is wanting someone else to bail them out, instead of learning to live within their means. We will be looking at similar "austerity measures" here in the USA, if we keep pursuing the course of unsustainable spending and borrowing. Follow the link for more info, photos and video.


Here are some photo's from their other protests over the last few years:



It's no accident that the "flag poles" are so sturdy; they double as weapons:



But the Reds also use petrol bombs too:



I can see why the German's don't want to bail Greece out. Do it for them once, and they would then expect it, again and again, endlessly. The Red Flag folks would demand it.


Also see:

Greece bailout drama: It's only just begun

Let Greece Have Its Default