Youth protest gov’t at Nov 17 march

ATHENS - The Associated Press

Students carry a blood-stained Greek flag during a rally yesterday in Athens marking the anniversary of a 1973 uprising against the dictatorship then ruling Greece. AP photo

Thousands of protesters demonstrated in Athens yesterday against austerity measures demanded by the new unity government to persuade its creditors to release bankruptcy-saving loans.

“We will throw all of them out,” promised a banner held aloft by students while another carried by protestors read: “In the face of tyranny, one must choose between chains and arms.”

Greece is slogging through a third year of recession exacerbated by wage cuts and tax hikes imposed by the previous socialist government of George Papandreou, and set to continue under the new coalition administration set up last week under former European Central Bank deputy chief Lucas Papademos.

Thousands of police were deployed across Athens for the demonstrations which will test the scale of public defiance against the new government.

The participation of far-right politicians in the cabinet for the first time since democracy was restored in 1974 also added to the outrage of the protesters.

Down with the government of socialists, conservatives and fascists,” a protester banner said.

The march on November 17 each year commemorates a student uprising in 1973 that helped topple a US-backed army dictatorship and brought back the republic