The day before the Panhellenic General Strike of Thursday 11th March, Municipality workers protested in Athens against the Greek government's new economic austerity package by holding a mock funeral that included a coffin to mark the "death" of their benefits. The protesters marching behind the coffin were holding a great banner with the slogans “Οχι στη λεηλασία του εισόδηματος μας – No to the plundering ouf our income !” and “ Κάτω τα χέρια απο τα δικαίωματα μας – Down with the attack on our (pension) rights !”
A protester in front of the coffin held a standard decorated with a mourning wreath of white roses porting the inscription “With heartfelt sympathy, Angela Merkel “ (may be also an allusion to the legendary song "White Roses of Athens" by Nana Mouskouri, the hellenic singer who recently announced, in a gesture of constructively intended protest, to forgo her pension as euro-parlamentarian). Similar mourning wreaths were coming from Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, Nicolas Sarkozy …
The British Guardian has a short video roundup of the Strike Day and a picture gallery showing that also policemen on strike were in solidarity with the demonstrators.
"After the Greek Riots" shows photos taken by the photographer Fil Kaler in the streets of Athens on Thursday, and a report from China's Xinhua News Agency is here.
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