Greek unions protest planned privatisations

AP, Saturday 4 Jun 2011

Rally against government's austerity policies and IMF-endorsed sell-offs of state resources sees relatively sparse attendance

Members of Greece's two most powerful unions have marched through the centre of Athens to protest against the government's fiscal austerity policies and plans to privatise several state firms.

Despite calls for mass participation, the incident-free rally was sparsely attended, with about 1,000 people taking part. Unionists from state electricity company PPC, port employees and teachers formed the bulk of the marchers.

Greece has agreed to speed up a 50 billion euro privatisation program that would be used to pay down its debt in return for continued funding from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

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