Greece Shutdown by Nationwide Strike (Oct 5)

All State-Run government, media, infrastructure, schools, courts, buses, etc are currently shut down!

WSJ article

The 24-hour strike shut central and local government operations, including schools and courts, and hospitals, emergency health services and state-owned companies, such as the national power utility, were operating at reduced staff levels.

Transport services around Greece were disrupted as air traffic controllers walked off the job, forcing the cancelation of dozens of flights into and out of the country. Ferry services were also frozen and public transport in the capital, Athens, was affected by a partial walkout of the city's bus, rail and trolley workers.

Greece's museums and hundreds of archaeological sites were also closed Wednesday as a result of the strike, while guards at detention centers extended their own two-day walkout that affected, among other things, the transport of prisoners.

The strike, called by Greece's two major umbrella unions, comes after weeks of almost daily protest actions by various groups—ranging from bus drivers to tax collectors—over the government cutbacks. A day earlier, protesters blocked all access to

Morning Radio shows are hot on the topic, but I didn't see anything on ATS yet. I'll update as I find more info.


Flights to Greece cancelled.

Train and ferry services are also likely to be affected, with thousands of workers expected to take part in the latest 24-hour strike by members of the General Union of Greek Employees, in protest at the country’s austerity measures.

EasyJet has cancelled 30 flights to destinations including Rhodes, Heraklion, Athens and Corfu, while a further six flights to and from Gatwick Airport have been delayed until Thursday.

Ryanair has cancelled 16 flights, including services from Liverpool and Stansted. It is running an additional flight from Liverpool to Kos on Thursday morning to assist affected passengers.

British Airways has cancelled eight flights to and from Heathrow.

wow..so is this it? is the the first domino? not like other dominoes haven't fallen already but this could very well be the tipping point, eh?

Here is something that makes no sense to me?

BBC Article

At least 16,000 people have joined protests organised by the main unions in central Athens.

Thousands of people have gathered in central Athens to march towards Syntagma Square and stage a demonstration outside parliament. Protests were also planned for other cities

Flights and ferry services have been cancelled, schools, government offices and tourist sites closed, and hospitals are working with reduced staff.

Police have fired tear gas at small groups of protesters who were throwing stones.

I usually defend the police actions, but why the hell are they at work and not next to their fellow state employees? Why would they disperse crowds forming to fight on their behalf? Why are they not protesting the same cuts as everyone else?

This is how you pronounce "No." with one voice.

There are lessons to be learned from this...

reply to post by getreadyalready


hopefully they can target their understandable anger at the real issues
we need a new money system
where has this economy got us? greece is the first but not the last..everyone will fall if we continue to trust in blatant lies

Originally posted by getreadyalready
I usually defend the police actions, but why the hell are they at work and not next to their fellow state employees? Why would they disperse crowds forming to fight on their behalf? Why are they not protesting the same cuts as everyone else?

So...... You WANT to see total chaos? We all know this is 'temporary' and things like police, medical, firedepartments, etc NEED to keep running otherwise the country would be one big chaos within hours if there is no police or military presence!
Why dont you ask: Why are the people in the hospital working, and not with there fellow employees?

Common sense

Originally posted by Required01

Originally posted by getreadyalready
I usually defend the police actions, but why the hell are they at work and not next to their fellow state employees? Why would they disperse crowds forming to fight on their behalf? Why are they not protesting the same cuts as everyone else?

So...... You WANT to see total chaos? We all know this is 'temporary' and things like police, medical, firedepartments, etc NEED to keep running otherwise the country would be one big chaos within hours if there is no police or military presence!
Why dont you ask: Why are the people in the hospital working, and not with there fellow employees?

Common sense

edit on 5-10-2011 by Required01 because: (no reason given)

Na his comment made perfect sense. But your comparison lacked Common sense.

reply to post by Required01


It says the hospitals are working with "reduced staff."

And yes, I do want to see chaos, but I hope nobody gets hurt. I'm mostly confused because the police are facing the same cuts as everyone else, yet they choose to fire tear gas? Maybe a reduced police presence is necessary, and maybe some of them are just following their perceived duty and have the best of intentions, but is there really a need for tear gas?

Be careful how you perceive this Greek action, because it is coming to the US. Nobody knows when, but our financial situation is just as dire as theirs. We will be facing strikes and riots here as well. Maybe this month, maybe next year, but they are inevitable. We are way beyond the threshold for recovery now. We must crash before we can recover. Look to Greece to see what we should or shouldn't be doing.

sounds like they they need another..


ACHILLEEESSSSS

Amazingly, the EU financial markets are up for the day? Even while IMF leaders are trying to figure out how to save banks heavily invested in Greece, and the strikes are because of 30,000 potential jobs lost, yet the markets are responding favorably? How Odd?

‘Worst Circumstances’
“We are at the worst circumstances under the worst conditions,” Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said at a news conference in Athens yesterday. “We are dependent on the aid and loans of our institutional partners. That is the situation of the country. And we must make superhuman efforts to win this wager of history.”

The ASE stock index rose 1.7 percent today at 1:36 p.m. in Athens after tumbling 6.3 percent yesterday, the most since May 2010. The yield on Greece’s 10-year bonds climbed 10 basis points, or 0.1 percentage point, to 23.2 percent, more than double the rate on July 21, generic pricing for euro-denominated securities shows.

The government is dependent on outside financing as the economy contracts and the unemployment rate stands at more than double Germany’s. The Greek state, which employs about 750,000, carries a debt load that will reach 356.5 billion euros in 2011, or the equivalent of 161.8 percent of gross domestic product, the highest in the EU and three times the ratio of Poland.

The 24-hour strike shut the Athens International Airport, causing 448 flight cancelations, and shuttered schools and archaeological sites to protest Papandreou’s plans to put 30,000 public workers on reduced pay, raise property taxes and cut pensions and wages in a bid to win European Union financing.

Bloomberg Source

Originally posted by getreadyalready
Amazingly, the EU financial markets are up for the day? Even while IMF leaders are trying to figure out how to save banks heavily invested in Greece, and the strikes are because of 30,000 potential jobs lost, yet the markets are responding favorably? How Odd?

really doesnt matter, of course their going to try and keep people calm by saying its all good.
just media spin for the masses
we all know where its heading

I feel really sorry for those living in Greece, The Government in that country are in for a big shock, when it comes to their next elections that is for sure.

reply to post by getreadyalready

Originally posted by getreadyalready
I usually defend the police actions, but why the hell are they at work and not next to their fellow state employees? Why would they disperse crowds forming to fight on their behalf? Why are they not protesting the same cuts as everyone else?

The police simply forgot who they really work for.

The trick is called "esprit de corps".

Establish a common spirit of comradeship among the members of a group, give them an exclusive identity inside society, and, voila you have yourself a perfekt tool for counter-insurgency against your own citizens.
Its easy to alienate people.

The european Secretaries of DOI are developing Counter-Insurgency (COIN) strategies inside the EU for some years now.
They know whats comming when SHTF...

So the European markets are up for the day, with Greece on Strike, Unemployment Rising, Banks taking on heavy risks, and late yesterday Moody's downgraded Italy's credit rating, and they are likely to start downgrading Italian banks credit ratings also.

How does that make any sense?

The Italian government's credit rating has been slashed by Moody's from Aa2 to A2 with a negative outlook.

The ratings agency blamed a "material increase in long-term funding risks for the euro area", due to lost confidence in eurozone government debts.

Despite Rome's low current borrowing needs, and low private-sector debt levels in Italy, Moody's said market sentiment had turned against the euro.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the decision was expected.

"The Italian government is working with the maximum commitment to achieve its budget objectives," said Mr Berlusconi.

He said that a plan to balance the government's budget by 2013 had been approved by the European Commission.

Sell-off

The initial market reaction to the downgrade was muted.

The news broke half an hour after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

But after-hours trading in stock market futures suggested that at least one percentage point of a late 4% market rally may have been wiped off.

BBC Source

In my opinion, all of the financial markets are being fraudulently manipulated. There is just no plausible way that investors are buying into the markets heavily with all of the turmoil, chaos, and unknowns.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by Required01

 

It says the hospitals are working with "reduced staff."

And yes, I do want to see chaos, but I hope nobody gets hurt. I'm mostly confused because the police are facing the same cuts as everyone else, yet they choose to fire tear gas? Maybe a reduced police presence is necessary, and maybe some of them are just following their perceived duty and have the best of intentions, but is there really a need for tear gas?

Be careful how you perceive this Greek action, because it is coming to the US. Nobody knows when, but our financial situation is just as dire as theirs. We will be facing strikes and riots here as well. Maybe this month, maybe next year, but they are inevitable. We are way beyond the threshold for recovery now. We must crash before we can recover. Look to Greece to see what we should or shouldn't be doing.

In chaos people get hurt, no question about it.
Yes in 'reduced staff' so people are still working. Who says no police men are there? Tear gas is shot to control the masses that are 'trowing stones'. They are disturbing the peace, and instead of running in with sticks and beating them up, they shoot tear gas to stop them from stoning people/buildings.

I have nothing against peaceful protests, but using violence (throwing stones is an act of violence) should not be used, so tear gassing is a valid response in my opinion.

You ask "is there really a need for tear gas?", so i ask you "is there really a need for trowning stones?". Do you need to use violence to make your point? Isn't laying down massive functions of the city/country a very big point already? And then protest (peacefully) an even bigger point?

We have a 'world' economy, what means if one country suffers (financially) the world suffers (financially). So that is why it's called a 'domino effect'. Spain and Italy are not doing so great as well, not only the US. World economy is suffering, because of mistakes being made over and over, without learning. We are barely out of the resession of 2008 and the new one is just around the corner or worse.

While this is ongoing, Greek Riot Police attack innocent people:



Absolutely Disgusting

If you listen you will hear the Riot Dog, absolutely amazing.

www.livestream.com...

live stream, the famous riot dog Loukanikos is amazing.

reply to post by AnonymousFem


lets see if their willing to attack their fellow citizens when they arent getting paid.
thats the big thing to wait and see.
what happens when the governments cant afford authority?

reply to post by AnonymousFem


I dunno?

That video looked to me like the police were responding when they were attacked by a fire extinguisher, and down in the tunnel, they appeared to be retreating from the people? They did push a couple of people on down the stairs away from the paramedics, but they didn't strike or arrest them.

I have to admit, those police looked pretty restrained to me. I didn't see anything uncalled for.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by AnonymousFem

 

I dunno?

That video looked to me like the police were responding when they were attacked by a fire extinguisher, and down in the tunnel, they appeared to be retreating from the people? They did push a couple of people on down the stairs away from the paramedics, but they didn't strike or arrest them.

I have to admit, those police looked pretty restrained to me. I didn't see anything uncalled for.

seriously?
one of the guys litreally bear hugged/raped a women(15-19seconds top left corner)
and then another pushed an old women by the head(27-31 seconds)