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Greek lawmakers approve austerity bill as Athens burns


WestVirginiaRebel

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WestVirginiaRebel

us-greece-idUSTRE8120HI20120212Reuters:

(Reuters) - The Greek parliament approved a deeply unpopular austerity bill to secure a second EU/IMF bailout and avoid national bankruptcy, as buildings burned across central Athens and violence spread around the country.

Cinemas, cafes, shops and banks were set ablaze in central Athens as black-masked protesters fought riot police outside parliament.

State television reported the violence spread to the tourist islands of Corfu and Crete, the northern city of Thessaloniki and towns in central Greece. Shops were looted in the capital where police said 34 buildings were ablaze.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos denounced the worst breakdown of order since 2008 when violence gripped Greece for weeks after police shot a 15-year-old schoolboy.

"Vandalism, violence and destruction have no place in a democratic country and won't be tolerated," he told parliament as it prepared to vote on the new 130 billion euro bailout to save Greece from a chaotic bankruptcy.

Papademos told lawmakers shortly before they voted that they would be gravely mistaken if they rejected the package that demands deep pay, pension and job cuts, as this would threaten Greece's place in the European mainstream.

"It would be a huge historical injustice if the country from which European culture sprang ... reached bankruptcy and was led, due to one more mistake, to national isolation and national despair," he said.

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Sounds like they're pretty much there already...

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@WestVirginiaRebel

 

See article in Athens News

 

The morning after

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"Police said 150 shops were looted in the capital and 48 buildings set ablaze. Some 100 people – including 68 police – were wounded and 130 detained, a police official said on Monday.

 

There was also violence in cities across the country, including Thessaloniki and the islands of Corfu and Crete.

 

Athenians were shocked at the burnt buildings that included the neoclassical home to the Attikon cinema dating from 1870."

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Nice commentary from Nikos Konstandaras below

 

 

What is lost in the fire

 

By Nikos Konstandaras

 

Scissors-32x32.pngWhat is lost in the fire may be greater than that which we feared to lose. The neoclassical building that housed the Attikon cinema was one of the most beautiful in Athens, among the very few that reminded us of what our city could have become if we had respected its past, if we cared about its present and its future. Perhaps it was a fitting sacrifice – a symbol of our rush to destroy because we cannot create, an expression of our need to abandon memories and pass into the future, blackened with ashes and rage.Scissors-32x32.png

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I don't get riots. The word comes out that you are going to have to be on an austerity program. Resources will be tight, and the government is not going to bail you out.

 

And your first instinct is to go out and burn your town down? Really?

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@pollyannaish

 

Remember, we are not talking Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Homer, Plutarch and other bright minds.

 

These 20th century cretins are the same as the Obama supporters and mind sets here. Just like children break their toys when they do not get their way.

 

As Rush said today about the Obama bots: they are takers, not producers.

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@pollyannaish

 

Remember, we are not talking Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Homer, Plutarch and other bright minds.

 

These 20th century cretins are the same as the Obama supporters and mind sets here. Just like children break their toys when they do not get their way.

 

As Rush said today about the Obama bots: they are takers, not producers.

 

So where are the adults?

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I am not embarrassed to say that if I were in charge of the police, there would be rioters injured bodies strewn around the streets.

I'm not embarrassed to say, I would help you.

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Some pretty intense riot images

 

There are a few groups. Young and wanting excitement. Thugs hiding behind masks. How about that old fart of a pensioner near the first shots, taunting the police? He may have to give up his feta cheese and olives.

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