Merkel's visit to Athens

All this for a 6-hour visit by Merkel - 6000 troops to protect one woman.

Athens police fire tear gas in crackdown clashes at anti-Merkel protest

Police fired tear gas as angry protesters clashed with officers in Athens as thousands rallied in the Greek capital in protest against German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit. Merkel is in Athens for austerity talks with the country's Prime Minister.

RT,

9 October, 2012

Angry protesters picked stones from the cracked pavement and hurled them at police, who responded with tear gas, pepper spray and stun grenades. AFP estimated that at least 25,000 people turned out to express their anger at Greece’s austerity policies.

Demonstrators hoisted banners reading, “Merkel out, Greece is not your colony” and “This is not a European Union, it's slavery.”

Teachers, doctors and other public employees went on strike Tuesday, taking to the streets of Athens alongside trade unions and opposition political parties. Many Greeks say they cannot take more of the wage cuts and tax hikes that have left every fourth person in the public sector jobless.

“They've turned our lives into hell,” one the protesters told Reuters. “We don't want [Merkel] here.” 

Two Nazi flags were set on fire near parliament as demonstrators chanted, “No to the Fourth Reich!”

The rallies were mostly peaceful, but police briefly clashed with several dozen demonstrators. Around 200 people were detained in Athens, including students and members of a ‘Solidarity Network’ protest bloc.

Police try to disperse protesters during a violent protest against the visit of Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel in Athens October 9, 2012. (Reuters/Grigoris Siamidis)

As protesters raged in the streets, Greek PM Antonis Samaras welcomed his “friend” Angela Merkel. After talks with Samaras, Merkel said that the EU country “has done a lot, but much remains to be done.” Merkel vowed that she wanted Greece “to remain in the euro.” 

Samaras responded by saying that Greeks were “bleeding,” but would stick with their austerity program and were likewise determined to stay in the eurozone. 

Merkel’s trip to Athens lasted six hours.

AFP Photo/Aris Messinis

Authorities issued permits for only two of the planned protests. At least 7,000 police from across the country were deployed in Athens, including rooftop snipers, water cannons and hundreds of undercover agents. Security forces erected steel fences around the capital’s parliament building.

Locals said that snipers were stationed on the roof tops of government buildings in Athens, and that commando units were also seen on standby as helicopters patrolled the skies over Athens.

(Image from twitter user @Balkanizator)

“It will be one of the biggest security drills in recent years,” said a senior police official who chose to remain anonymous.

These extreme measures are being put in place because Merkel's brief visit comes amid growing unrest in Greece over new cutbacks.Greek authorities, who are struggling to talk bailout creditors into unfreezing a vital loan installment, appear determined to prevent riots whilst Merkel is in town.

Public Order Minister, Nikos Dendias, called on protesters to "protect the peace, and above all our country's prospects and our international image."

Reuters/Grigoris Siamidis

Greece has depended on bailouts from fellow EU member states and the International Monetary Fund since May 2010. To get the loans, it implemented a series of deep income cuts and tax hikes, while increasing retirement ages and facilitating private sector layoffs.

However, Greece must axe another $17.5 billion over the next two years to qualify for its next rescue loan payment – without which the government will run out of cash next month.

Germany has provided most of the EU’s bailout fund – but has also remained one of Greece’s toughest critics, demanding more reforms from the Greeks to keep their economy solvent.

Tensions ahead of the visit are already simmering in the Greek capital, with thousands gathering in front of the parliament building in Syntagma Square, chanting against fresh budget cuts and burning an EU flag.

More than 8,000 protesters vented their frustration at German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who they see as an instigator of their crippling reform program.

Demonstrators burn a flag emblazoned with a swastika during a demonstration against the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in central Athens, October 9, 2012. (Reuters / Yannis Behrakis)

Hostile Reception For 

Merkel in Greece

Anti-Fascist Protesters Claim 'Tortured by Police' Following Golden Dawn Clash; Radicalism Takes Hold

Mish's Global Economic Analysis,

9 October, 2012

I am not sure what German Chancellor Angela Merkel expected to accomplish in Greece, but whatever it was, it does not seem to have worked.

The Financial Times reports on the Hostile reception for Merkel in Athens

 Angela Merkel flew in to a hostile reception from angry Greeks on Tuesday as security forces took tough measures to restrict or eliminate protests in central Athens, firing tear gas at demonstrators who tried to break through a police barrier. 

Ms Merkel was given the red carpet treatment and full military honours at Athens airport. But on the streets it was a different matter, with more than 7,000 police officers deployed to keep demonstrators away from the German leader.

Sections of the capital were cordoned off and public gatherings in certain areas, including outside the German embassy, were banned.

Thousands of Greeks gathered in Syntagma Square in central Athens as Ms Merkel arrived. The demonstration – while vocal – was mostly peaceful but the mood was angry.

Giant banners declared: “Angela, you are not welcome,” and “Out with the Fourth Reich”. One caricature showed the chancellor in a swastika armband, being kicked from behind by Karagiozis, a Greek puppet representing the country’s impoverished past.

Public sector unionists holding their second demonstration against the visit in as many days voiced resentment of what many Greeks see as excessive austerity policies imposed by Germany.

“She [Ms Merkel] came to tell us that we have to swallow more measures . . . It’s unacceptable, she has no idea at all what Greeks are going through,” said Lakis Papazoglou, a former local government worker unemployed since his contract ended this year. "She has no idea at all what Greeks are going through"

A jeep carrying men dressed in full Nazi regalia, and giving the familiar salute, drew huge cheers when it rolled down Stadiou Street towards the main square.

Alexis Tsipras, leader of the radical leftwing Syriza coalition, the main parliamentary opposition, spoke to the defiant mood in Syntagma Square, saying: “The democratic tradition of Europe won’t allow a European people, the Greeks, to become a guinea pig [for harsh reforms] and a giant graveyard.”

Anti-Fascist Protesters 'Tortured by Police'

Meanwhile Greek anti-fascist protesters 'tortured by police' after Golden Dawn clash.

 Fifteen anti-fascist protesters arrested in Athens during a clash with supporters of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn have said they were tortured in the Attica General Police Directorate (GADA) – the Athens equivalent of Scotland Yard – and subjected to what their lawyer describes as an Abu Ghraib-style humiliation.

Members of a second group of 25 who were arrested after demonstrating in support of their fellow anti-fascists the next day said they were beaten and made to strip naked and bend over in front of officers and other protesters inside the same police station.

Some said they were burned on the arms with a cigarette lighter, and they said police officers videoed them on their mobile phones and threatened to post the pictures on the internet and give their home addresses to Golden Dawn, which has a track record of political violence.

One man with a bleeding head wound and a broken arm that he said had been sustained during his arrest alleged the police continued to beat him in GADA and refused him medical treatment until the next morning. Another said the police forced his legs apart and kicked him in the testicles during the arrest.

In response to the allegations, Christos Manouras, press spokesman for the Hellenic police, said: "There was no use of force by police officers against anyone in GADA. The Greek police examine and investigate in depth every single report regarding the use of violence by police officers; if there are any responsibilities arising, the police take the imposed disciplinary action against the officers responsible. There is no doubt that the Greek police always respect human rights and don't use violence.

Rise of Neo-Nazis

I do not know how widespread police support is for Golden Dawn. However, the Greek government is very concerned as noted in Greek State Tries to Stem Neo-Nazi Rise.

Stopping the rise of the neo-Nazis is going to be very difficult if there is widespread police support for Golden Dawn.

Radicalism Takes Hold

One thing is for sure, five years of economic depression is driving Greek citizens away from the center towards radical left and radical right parties.

Those parties have one thing in common, they want to default on Greek debt.