Greek citizens are not reacting well to the government’s decision to shore up its resources, after a bailout from the E.U. and the International Monetary Fund, by cutting wages for public workers, putting a three-year freeze on pensions, and increasing taxes on fuel, alcohol, and tobacco. For the third time this year, workers across the country participated in a massive strike today, with lawyers, doctors, bank workers, teachers, and pretty much everyone else walking off the job. Rioting has broken out in Thessolaniki and Athens, where at least three people were killed in a fire at a bank building set by crazed, irrational protesters. (According to The Wall Street Journal the fires were set by Molotov cocktails, which seems counterproductive, given the newly high price of alcohol.) Kind of puts our jolly, goofy-hat-wearing demonstrators in perspective.
Greeks Protests Over Bailout Leaves 3 Dead, Buildings Burning [Bloomberg]
Three Dead in Fire as Strikes Grip Greece [WSJ]
