Tag Archives: Greece

Protest Turns Violent During Obama’s Visit To Greece

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Six people have been arrested in the Greek capital after a group of anarchists started throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails following an anti-capitalism protest, Athens police told CNN.

The trouble came as Barack Obama visits Athens on his final state tour as President of the United States. He gave a speech Wednesday after touring the Acropolis, the complex of monuments known as the “cradle of democracy,” in which he said democracy was “complicated” and “messy” but designed to correct mistakes.
Protesters stand in front of graffiti that reads “No Hope” on Tuesday in Athens.
The arrests occurred Tuesday after a peaceful demonstration, organized by the Communist Party and permitted by police, in Omonia Square near central Athens.
About 5,000 people attended the anti-establishment protest, police said. After it was over, a group of some 100 to 150 anarchists became violent, police said.
Unrest broke out as the group tried to break through a police cordon to march to the US Embassy and Presidential Mansion, where Obama was attending an official state dinner.
Protesters threw Molotov cocktails, and police responded with stun grenades and tear gas, dispersing the crowds who eventually retreated into the side streets.
Three officers suffered minor injuries, police said.
Read More: cnn

Greece Out of Economic Recession

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The Greek economy emerged from recession for the first time since 2014, managing two straight quarters of GDP growth, figures released Monday showed.

Greece’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.5 percent in the three months to September from the previous quarter, and by 1.5 percent from the third quarter of 2015, statistics bureau Elstat said.

It had already nudged 0.2 percent higher in the second quarter from the first. Two consecutive quarters of growth officially mark the end of a recession.

The Greek government expects the Greek economy to contract by 0.3 percent in the full-year 2016, before returning to growth next year when it predicts GDP to surge by 2.7 percent.

On Thursday it said the growth dynamic was now in better shape than at any point since the financial crisis.

“The Greek economy has not known a comparable growth rhythm since the first quarter of 2008,” government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said.

He said Greece was counting on debt relief to support growth, as well as on Athens gaining access to the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme which involves purchases of sovereign bonds.

Apart from a brief respite in 2014, the Greek economy has been steadily contracting since 2008 as the country’s creditors as well as the European Union and the IMF imposed harsh austerity measures accompanying successive bailouts.

Falling salaries and pensions combined with tax hikes have had a devastating impact on demand, particularly consumer spending.

In May, Greece’s eurozone partners and the IMF agreed in principle to debt relief as well as series of short-term measures to be finalised in December.

They have not, however, been able to agree on the pace or the scope of long-term debt restructuring. European Union heavyweight Germany has pushed back any such deal to end-2018.

AFP

8 Turkish Coup Plotters Request Asylum In Greece

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A Turkish military helicopter landed in Greece Saturday carrying eight officers seeking asylum after a coup bid, Greek police said.

The Black Hawk chopper arrived after sending a distress signal to authorities at the airport in Alexandroupolis in the country’s north.

Seven of those on board were in military uniform and all are believed to have been involved in the attempted putsch, ERT TV said. Athens News Agency said the asylum seekers comprised three majors, three captains and two sergeant majors.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara had asked Athens to send back the eight.

“We have requested Greece to extradite the eight traitors as soon possible,” Cavusoglu was quoted as telling HaberTurk television.

According to an official in the Greek National Defence General Staff, “the helicopter is scheduled to be sent back immediately to Turkey”.

“As far as the asylum seekers are concerned, we are going to proceed according to the international law” Olga Gerovassili, the Greek government spokeswoman, said.

She said Athens was “in constant contact with the Turkish authorities”, and would take into account the fact that “the asylum seekers took part in a coup against the Turkish constitution”.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras early Saturday expressed his “support for the democratically elected” Turkish government.

Credit: Guardian

EU Migrant Relocation Plan To Start Wednesday In Greece

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Greece will begin the process of sending refugees, mostly Syrians and Iraqis, to other EU member states under the bloc’s refugee relocation plan on Wednesday, Athens said.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will meet a first group of 30 refugees at Athens airport early Wednesday morning before they voluntarily board a plane for Luxembourg, the government said in a statement Tuesday.

The European commissioner for immigration, Dimitris Avramopoulos of Greece, as well as European Parliament president Martin Schulz and Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn will attend the launch of the programme, an EU statement said.

Under the EU plan, nearly 160,000 migrants, including 66,000 for whom Greece was the first port of call, are to be shared out among EU countries after being processed at so-called “hotspots” in Italy and Greece.

Credit: AFP

Greece In Shock As Banks Shut Down

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Greeks woke up to shuttered banks, closed cash machines and a climate of rumors and conspiracy theories on Monday as a breakdown in talks between Athens and its creditors plunged the country deep into crisis.

After receiving no extra emergency funding for Greek lenders from the European Central Bank, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sombrely announced capital controls in a televised address on Sunday night to prevent banks from collapsing under the weight of mass withdrawals.

Greece has less than 48 hours to pay back 1.6 billion euros ($1.77 billion) of International Monetary Fund loans, and a default would set in train events that could lead to the country’s exit from the euro currency bloc.

Read More: Reuters