Greek PM Calls 3 Deaths in Violent Protests 'Murder'

(May 5) -- Greece's prime minister denounced the deaths of three people in ongoing demonstrations in Athens as "murder" and vowed that the protesters who set fire to the bank where they died would be pursued and tried.

"A demonstration is one thing and murder is quite another," said Prime Minister George Papandreou, speaking before parliament on the second straight day of angry protests against austerity measures the government hopes can save the country from bankruptcy.

Today's deaths happened at a bank in downtown Athens, where protesters hurled homemade gasoline bombs at police in riot gear, who responded by firing tear gas and stun grenades. Firefighters say three bodies have been discovered inside the bank, and another building is still on fire, the BBC reported.

Flights to and from Greece are grounded and the Acropolis is draped with protest banners as up to 100,000 workers walk off the job. Today, transport workers have joined the strike, bringing trains, planes and ferries to a standstill.

They're protesting spending cuts and tax hikes designed to bring Greece's bloated debt and budget deficits down to manageable size. But many workers say the cuts go too far, and put regular citizens in desperate financial situations.

"We are heading into a deep recession and things are just going to get worse," Andreas Loupis, a 30-year-old newsstand owner in Athens, told The Wall Street Journal. "People are hungry and pretty soon they will start turning on each other."

Greece's debt crisis threatens to bankrupt the country and spread to other relatively poor southern European economies hard hit by the global downturn. Greek unemployment is near 20 percent, and the country's national debt is expected to grow to more than $400 billion this year -- more than the whole output of its economy. Its budget deficit is 13.6 percent, which is more than four times what EU rules allow.

Its prime minister has called for a joint European-IMF bailout before his country is forced to restructure its debt at a loss to investors. The final details are being worked out this week, but it's expected to entail $144 billion in loans over three years.

One of the conditions of that package, however, is that Greece reel in its spending -- and it has proposed to do so by slashing salaries and pensions and hiking taxes. The measures are expected to save $40 billion through 2012. But union leaders and their followers say the poorest Greeks will bear the brunt of those new policies, and have called for two massive protest marches through Athens today.

"There are other things the [government] can do, before taking money from a [retiree] who earns 500 euros [$650] a month," Spyros Papaspyros, leader of the public servants' union ADEDY, told Greek private television.

Several thousand teachers and students marched on parliament on Tuesday, carrying black flags and banners. Those demonstrations were largely peaceful, though some scuffles broke out with police along the route, with protesters throwing stones and security forces in riot gear responding with pepper spray.

Some 1,500 Greek police are fanned out across Athens to quell any violence that erupts amid the rallies.

The strike has shut down schools and government offices, and left hospitals working with only emergency staff. The Acropolis and all of the country's major archaeological tourist sites are closed, and journalists have walked off the job as well -- canceling TV and radio broadcasts.

This is the third general strike in Greece in as many months.