General strike in Greece causes clashes

(Vatican Radio) Clashes have broken out between police and protesters at a march during a general strike in Greece.

Listen to this report by John Carr in Athens.

Shopkeepers in central Athens were picking up the pieces this morning after yesterday’s clashes that accompanied a public-sector general strike.

Far-left youths battled police during union-led demonstrations against a new wave of austerity measures mandated by Greece’s creditors.  Shop windows were smashed, and several cars were overturned and burned.  There seem to have been no arrests, though one policeman was injured.

The local media reported that several leftwing former members of the ruling Syriza party were seen at the strike demonstrations.  They included figures who split off from the party in the summer disagreeing with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s pro-European turn towards more austerity.

An estimated 30,000 people had gathered to protest the austerity.  The burst of unrest does not augur well for Tsipras’s ongoing battle to keep Greece in the good graces of its creditors.  Especially as a day-long public transport strike has been scheduled for Sunday.