ATHENS, March 11 (RIA Novosti) - Greek policemen used tear gas to disperse hundreds of people gathered on Sunday night at the parliament building to protest the country’s austerity program, the Athens news agency reported.
The main slogan of protesters, who mobilized on the Syntagma Square in Athens via social networks, was “Poverty, Unemployment, Suicides - Enough is Enough!”
It was the first large protest in several months in Greece against the government’s austerity program and policemen used tear gas twice on Sunday, also arresting at least one man.
Greece has largely remained afloat by loans since May 2010. To date Europe and the IMF have given the country nearly 149 billion euros ($191 billion) of the 240 billion euros promised.
The country’s international lenders - EU countries and Greece - have agreed on cutting the country’s state debt to 124 percent of the GDP by 2020, below the forecast of 144 percent.
On November 8 the Greek parliament passed a highly unpopular austerity bill, setting out 13.5 billion euros in spending cuts, as well as tax hikes and labor reforms by 2016 as demanded by the lenders to reduce the country’s debt and deficit.
