Massive Greek protests enter third day

Greek municipal workers have staged a third day of protests in the capital Athens against the government’s plan to lay off public sector workers.

Civil servants including police officers and teachers marched towards the Greek parliament on Thursday, chanting anti-government slogans during a protest against the government’s new redundancy scheme in a bid to secure EU-IMF bailout funds.

The main union for Greek municipal workers also called on members to occupy government buildings and blockade the entrance of the city hall in Greece’s second largest city, Thessaloniki.

Major unions also announced plans to wage a general strike on July 16 after the Greek government submitted a draft bill to the parliament on Tuesday, detailing the redeployment of civil servants.

Meanwhile, the government announced on Tuesday that it was placing 4,200 workers, including school guards and teachers, on an eight-month suspension with reduced pay this month.

By the end of this year, some 25,000 civil servants overall must be redeployed and an additional 4,000 fired under terms of the new bailout agreement.

On Monday, eurozone finance ministers agreed on the recommendations by the so-called troika of international lenders – the European Union (EU), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – to release 6.8 billion euros (USD 8.7 billion) in rescue loans.

The bailout arrived despite a missed deadline by the government to place 12,500 workers on an involuntary transfer program.

Athens was granted a 110-billion-euro (USD 145-billion) bailout by the so-called troika in May 2010.

Another 130-billion euro (USD 170-billion) rescue package was approved in February 2012.

The country has been at the epicenter of the eurozone debt crisis, while harsh austerity measures have left about half a million people without jobs.