Athens: A general strike shut down Greece on Wednesday, grounding flights, closing banks and schools and restricting hospital services in action that piled pressure on a conservative government hit by the worst riots in decades.
Workers chanting anti-government slogans gathered in central Athens before a rally called by Greece's two main union federations against economic policy. Authorities braced for a fifth day of violence since police shot dead a teenager on Saturday.
"Participation in the strike is total, the country has come to a standstill," said Stathis Anestis, spokesman for the GSEE private sector union federation. On Tuesday, scores of youths clashed with police near where the funeral was held of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, whose killing ignited anger over government scandals, unemployment and high poverty levels, worsened by the global economic slump.
The opposition socialist party has said the ruling New Democracy party, which has a one-seat majority, has lost the trust of the people and has called for elections. "Government and police on the brink of collapse", the daily newspaper Ta Nea said in its front page headline.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose party was already trailing in opinion polls, asked political leaders for unity and urged unions to cancel Wednesday's rally. But the opposition was in no mood to compromise.
"He and his government are responsible for the widespread crisis that the country, that Greek society is experiencing," said socialist party spokesman George Papakonstantinou.
One policeman has been charged with murder over the shooting of Grigoropoulos, but has said the shot that killed the youth was fired in warning. A ballistics report was due on Wednesday and the policeman was due to appear before investigators with his partner, who has been charged as an accomplice. "rich should pay"
The riots quickly spread to at least 10 cities across the European Union member state of 11 million people, including the tourist islands of Crete and Corfu. Greeks also protested in Paris, Berlin, London, The Hague and in Cyprus.
Wednesday's strike by GSEE and its public sector counterpart ADEDY, which group half of Greece's 5-million-strong work force, was the latest in a series of labour protests against privatisations, pension reforms and the rising cost of living.
"Take your hands off our rights!" chanted a group of 50 people who marched through Syntagma square outside parliament with a banner reading: "The rich should pay for their crisis". "The death of the kid was an excuse that lit the match," said grocery store owner Yannis Thomas, 60. "Today we are more afraid than ever because of the strike."
Greece has a tradition of violence at student rallies and fire bomb attacks by anarchist groups, which have heightened tensions with police. Amnesty International, in a report on Tuesday, accused police of brutality in handling the riots. Many shops in central Athens stayed shut on Wednesday, boarding up their windows to prevent further damage.
Bus stops and litter bins were blackened by fire, public telephone booths smashed and some buildings gutted by blazes. The riots, Greece's worst civil unrest since the aftermath of military rule in 1974, have caused tens of millions of euros in damage in wrecked cars, torched shops and banks.
In the normally bustling Plaka district of Athens near the Acropolis, foreign tourists were scarce on Wednesday. Karamanlis, who swept to power amid euphoria before the 2004 Athens Olympics, has promised to compensate shopkeepers but his government already faces a big deficit.
In four years of conservative government, a series of ministerial scandals, devastating forest fires last summer, and misfired economic measures have dramatically reversed the mood.
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