Greece tightens security ahead of anti-austerity demos

Greek officials drafted in an extra 4,000 officers to the northern city of Thessaloniki ahead of protests against the socialist government’s austerity programme, police said yesterday.

The reinforcements were to help marshall this afternoon’s march organised by trades unions, which is taking place as Prime Minister George Papandreou addresses an international fair in the city.

Police officers’ and firefighters’ unions planned their own demonstration for last night in protest at wage cuts.

Earlier yesterday, communist activists unfurled a banner on the White Tower, one of the city’s main landmarks, which called on people to fight the government’s controversial measures.

The government agreed on the austerity programme in May in return for a €110-billion bail-out from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

That became necessary after the socialists announced that the public finances were crippled with debt approaching €300 billion – estimated at 13.6 per cent of gross domestic product.

In a gesture of solidarity with the people of Thessaloniki yesterday, Mr Papandreou held the first meeting of his newly reshuffled Cabinet there.

“This reshuffle launches a new phase of our government... and reflects our priorities,” which included the restructuring of public administration, Mr Papandreou said during the Cabinet meeting, broadcast on public television.

“Apart from the fierce struggle we are waging to cut the public deficit, we are going to put the stress on development and in investments in tourism, innovation and agriculture... to encourage the recovery,” he added.

He repeated his claim that the country would be able to find its way out of its current crisis – as long at the government stuck to its austerity programme.

Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou, in the eye of the political storm over the austerity programme’s cuts, has kept his job in the Cabinet.

The Finance Ministry announ-ced on Friday that the country’s public deficit had been reduced by 32.2 per cent in the first eight months of the year.

The latest demos are a foretaste of labour unrest that unions have pledged to organise this autumn after six general strikes already this year against the socialists’ tough reforms.

Some of the protests have turned violent: in May, three people died after the bank they worked in was fire-bombed.