greece starts to undermine the euro, page-27

Greeks protest over debt crisis

Helena Smith
Guardian.co.uk
Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:37 EST



For the first time in the modern history of Greece, anti-government protesters last night pitched tents outside the large standstone building of the Athenian parliament amid growing public anger and unprecedented international concern over the country's dire public finances.

As Greeks attempt to get to grips with an economic crisis that has begun to spill over the borders of their tiny state into the rest of Europe, the sight of tents lined up in Sydagma Square has conjured the mood of the nation: one that is veering, perilously, between bewilderment and despair.

"It is a simple issue of survival," said Anna Tsounara, a protester sitting in a tent lined with sleeping bags and blankets. "I am a divorced mother-of-two. I have never demonstrated like this before but now I want answers. All of us here worked in the public sector on contracts for years and now we are told the state is bankrupt by a government that comes in and says it wants to get rid of us. Just like that. That's not fair."



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/31/greece-public-anger-economic-crisis-papandreou