Confrontation between riot police and protesters broke out in Athens Thursday in the first general strike since Alexis Tsipras' government came to power in September.
The tension broke out in Syntagma Square, where the riot police launched tear gas to the youths who threw petrol bombs, stones and smashed windows near the parliament, according to Reuters.
VIDEO: Police fire tear gas at anti-austerity protests in Athens https://t.co/ItaUdZaJu7 pic.twitter.com/gPwHMLGHDY
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Nearly 25,000 people took part in the event, which was held in three different locations in Athens. There is another protest involving 10,000 people in Thessaloniki, Greece's second biggest city. The protest is in relation to tax hikes that are bailout-related and other spending cuts implemented by the government. While the strike went on for 24 hours, rampant interruption of public services occurred, ABC News reported.
The strike resulted in incidents such as grounded flights, hospitals with almost no staff, and closed public offices. This has been one of the largest strikes this year in Greece that was organized by private and public unions, GSEE and ADEDY.
"The winter is going to be explosive and this will mark the beginning," said Grigoris Kalomoiris, a leading member of Adedy, a civil servants' union, according to The Guardian.
"When the average wage has already been cut by 30%, when salaries are already unacceptably low, when the social security system is at risk of collapse, we cannot sit still," he added.
One Greek truck driver says that the Greek government and the creditors let the country plummet down. "The whole country is unemployed; we are struggling to survive day after day. This is a mockery, a robbery," Giorgos Voutsinos said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
