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June 29: A striker gestures against the Parliament during a demonstration in central Athens. Dozens of masked youths clashed with police at a union protest in Athens during the country's fifth general strike this year against the cash-strapped government's planned pension and labor reforms.![Uprising in Greece]()
June 29: A demonstrator kicks a riot policeman during clashes in central Athens. Some 16,000 people took part in two separate demonstrations, the second of which turned violent as stone-throwing youths fought with riot police. Public services shut down across Greece Tuesday as workers walked off the job in a new nationwide general strike that disrupted public transport, left hospitals operating on emergency staff and pulled all news broadcasts off the air.![Uprising in Greece]()
June 29: Strikers clash with riot police during a demonstration in central Athens. Greek labor unions held nationwide 24-hour general strike to protest overhaul of social security, labor law. The reforms are part of the government's efforts to pull Greece out of its financial crisis.![Uprising in Greece]()
June 29: A news stand owner takes cover behind his stand and riot police shield themselves as demonstrators, unseen at left, throw stones during clashes at a union protest in Athens. Public services shut down across Greece Tuesday as workers walked off the job in a new nationwide general strike that disrupted public transport, left hospitals operating on emergency staff and pulled all news broadcasts off the air.![Uprising in Greece]()
June 29: A riot policeman pushes away a protester who was trying to stop officers detain a suspected rioter during clashes at a union protest in Athens.![Uprising in Greece]()
Protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at police and at buildings. A bank on one of Athens' main avenues went up in flames, and two women trapped in the building stood on a second-floor balcony, their faces blackened with soot as firefighters attempted to reach them with ladders. (AP).![Uprising in Greece]()
Running street battles broke out in the Greek capital, where demonstrators chanting "thieves, thieves" attempted to break through a riot police cordon guarding Parliament (AP).![Uprising in Greece]()
The demonstrations in Athens were some of the largest in recent years, with some estimates putting the crowd at about 60,000 people. Government officials put the number at above 25,000 (AP).![Uprising in Greece]()
The outpouring of anger appeared much more spontanous than the frequent set piece battles between police and anarchist youths who often spark violence during Greek demonstrations (AP).![Uprising in Greece]()
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, while journalists also walked off the job, suspending television and radio news broadcasts (AP).![Uprising in Greece]()
Hundreds of people battered store fronts and smashed paving stones to throw at the police, who responded with stun grenades and volleys of tear gas that left clouds of the chemicals hovering over central Syntagma Square (AP).![Uprising in Greece]()
The riots were sparked after Prime Minister George Papandreou announced on Sunday to take draconian austerity measures, including cuts in salaries and pensions for civil servants, and another round of consumer tax increases, to pull his heavily indebted country away from the brink of default (AP).![Uprising in Greece]()
Despite the strike, the draft bill of the new austerity measures were to be discussed at committee level in Parliament Wednesday afternoon, and are to be voted on Thursday. The bill is expected to pass easily (AP).![Uprising in Greece]()
Greek unions concede that the cash-strapped government was forced to increase consumer taxes and slash spending, including cutting salaries and pensions for civil servants, but they say low-income Greeks will suffer disproportionately from the measures (AP).![Uprising in Greece]()
Those who are feeling the crunch are outraged that they have to pay for what they see as politicians' mismanagement of their country's economy (AP).Police, Rioters Clash in Greece
In the latest outburst in the Greek financial crisis, rocks and Molotov cocktails flew through the air in Athens as protesters fought police amidst the chaos of a general strike that escalated into a dangerous riot.
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- Police, Rioters Clash in Greece
