Greek protests against government austerity measures turned fatal when three people were killed in a fire set by demonstrators in an Athens building.
Fire officials at the scene said they discovered three bodies in the building in central Athens set ablaze by demonstrators, according to a fire-department statement sent by text message today. The building housed a branch of Marfin Egnatia Bank SA. At least three more buildings were set on fire and there were 30 fire trucks and 80 firefighters battling the blazes.
Today’s general strike, the third this year, follows Papandreou’s announcement of a second set of wage cuts for public workers, a three-year freeze on pensions and a second increase this year in sales taxes and the price of fuel, alcohol and tobacco in return for a bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Union groups have called the austerity measures “savage.”
Protesters earlier clashed with helmeted and riot police as they tried to gain access to the parliament building and threw sticks and stones and chanted slogans when they were repulsed. Police shot tear gas at other protesters who lobbed rocks and set trashcans on fire at the central bank building near the parliament.
Air-traffic controllers effectively closed Greek airspace as part of the 24-hour general walkout supported by the country’s public and private-sector unions.
Athens International Airport, the country’s biggest, canceled all flights into and out of the airfield a day after dozens of flights were grounded due to a public-sector protest.