Violence erupts in Greek strike

AFP/Getty Images riot police members are attacked during a protest in Athens on Wednesday with petrol bombs.

ATHENS - Greek police street battles fought with hundreds of anarchist young people Wednesday as tens of thousands of workers marched through Central Athens protest against Government cost-cutting measures and draconian labour market changes made.

Greece demonstrators clash with police in Central of Athens, exchanging petrol bombs and tear gas. Video courtesy of Reuters.

Hood young people attacked police petrol bombs and flares and a former Conservative Minister Kostis Hatzidakis, was attacked while attempting to leave the Parliament building.

The anarchists rocks pelting the legislature and was he hunted down and beaten with sticks. Images apparently showed him bleeding from a wound to the head. He took flight and escaped in a nearby building.

A witness told more than 150 protesters in the attack on the ministers involved. The witness said they cried: "Thieves thieves, shame!", but that it was addressed directly to Parliament as a whole rather than Mr Hatzidakis.

The clashes caused minor damage to Athens's central Syntagma Square, close to the Parliament with demonstrators, with paving stones and other objects to hurl to police.

Demonstrators then raging through downtown to damage set fires and shop fronts to the central business district. At least three cars were damaged by the demonstrators,

Associated press A bodyguard, led links, COSTIS Hatzidakis, Minister of the previous Government former development, away, after he was attacked by protesters in Athens on Wednesday.

In Syntagma Square police motorcycle calculates squads demonstrators and imprisoned several people.

"We had unfortunately violent incidents," said Police spokesman Panagiotis Papapetropoulos. "Protesters threw Molotov cocktails at reported police and some injuries are fortunately not serious." "We have reordered tear gas and made several arrests, but we have still pay overall because operations on multiple hot spots in the city are ongoing."

Dimitrios Boubas, a spokesman in Mr of Hatzidakis's political office, said in a statement: "he tried to leave Parliament and walking back to his Office nearby, but he was surrounded and attacked by a screaming crowd."

"He was in the attack, but not very hard injured." His bodyguard tries him and a few people around also, tries to prevent that the audience to protect him damage.

"After he fled, he was hospitalized after preliminary testing and monitoring was released but after an hour." "He has since recovered and is fine now."

Violence an otherwise peaceful protest marred the tens of thousands of workers and coincided with a nationwide General strike, Greece of 7th this year.

The strike paralyzed traffic around the country like hundreds of flights due to air traffic controllers strike cancelled, were also exposed to while train and ferry services, and public transport work in the capital workers stopped.

Alkis Konstantinidis/associated press demonstrators threw petrol bombs in Friday's clashes.

Ministries, local government services, courts, and schools were also closed while hospitals on skeleton staff were working. Dentists, pharmacists and taxi drivers also joined in with various work stoppages while led a strike of journalists of the cancellation of news programming.

"We have seen, universal participation in strikes and we appreciate the good turnout," said private sector umbrella Union GSEE Stathis Anestis, speaker and member of the Board. "We continue this action our protests with the intention of the overturning."

The Union together with its public counterpart ADEDY, holds a common protest rally, in addition to two other rallies Communist-backed PAME Union and independent nonunion protest organized by the March of left activists.

Independent estimates of soft, set the number of demonstrators about 20,000. They marched through the center of Athens, chanting slogans like "talk about profit and loss, we talk about the human cost." You were wearing banner that says "should pay the plutocracy for the crisis."

In may avoid standard using a bailout Greece closely 110 € ($ 147 billion) from the European Union and the IMF in exchange for a number of cost-cutting measures be too narrow deficit and other economic changes.

Early Wednesday, Greece, the Socialist Government passed a controversial omnibus law steep reductions in labour costs at State-owned enterprises, called during liberalization of the country's labour market.

The Bill passed under expedited parliamentary procedures was condemned by political opposition parties of Greece and Irish Socialist Party backbencher with a Socialist MEPs of breaking ranks and the vote contain.

"A public good, is public transportation," said Athanasios Karamitropoulos, a 35 - year old mechanic at the Athens trolley company. "These companies may deficits, but that is the fault of management, while all workers suffer the burden."

Due to a number of cost saving measures in this year than with the law on Wednesday charged public transport workers, their take - home to less than half seen reduced.

Next week the Parliament on Greece will vote 2011 budget that aims to reduce the general government deficit to 7.4% of GDP next year by a projected 9.4% of GDP this year.

Few expect the changes undone you, because get next spring as a precondition for Greece, the fourth installment of its 110 billion euro loan be seen.

However, trade unions have swore that continue their protests with a further public transport for Thursday planned strike.

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