Greek riot police clear staff from state broadcaster
(Vatican Radio) Greek riot police in the early hours of this morning cleared the state
broadcasting building of staff who had been staging a sit-in for five months, defying
the government’s shutdown of the broadcaster in June.
Twelve people were in
the ERT building in northern Athens when the police ordered them to leave. They had
been part of a news and technical team that streamed a technically illegal programme
online for the past five months.
An official spokesman here in Athens said
the government had decided to act to preserve public property. It’s finally enforcing
its decision earlier this year to take ERT off the air as wasteful and corrupt. But
the move outraged the leftwing opposition, which called for demonstrations outside
the ERT building that lasted through the day. In a few cases the police had to use
tear gas to repel hot-headed protesters. The question that everyone was asking
here in Athens today was why the government waited until now to clear the ERT premises,
instead of doing it last June. The answer seemed to be the Troika, which is in town
again this week taking another long and hard look at Greece’s economic governance.
The police move on the ERT building could be an attempt to show the Troika that
the government is serious about cutting out the deadwood.
As protesters rallied
around the ERT building today, the second day of a general strike, it remained to
be seen whether this new government toughness would pay dividends.