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Greek public sector workers start 24-hour strike Greek public sector workers hold 24-hour strike
(about 7 hours later)
Public sector workers in Greece have begun a 24-hour strike to protest against continuing cuts in government spending. Public sector workers in Greece are holding a 24-hour strike to protest against continuing cuts in government spending.
Hospitals, tax offices, prisons and archaeological sites are expected to be disrupted by the action. Hospitals, tax offices, prisons and archaeological sites have been disrupted by the action.
The workers are protesting against austerity measures, including a 40% reduction to salaries and pensions.The workers are protesting against austerity measures, including a 40% reduction to salaries and pensions.
The strike coincides with a visit from Greece's international creditors to check on the country's progress.The strike coincides with a visit from Greece's international creditors to check on the country's progress.
The European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank - known collectively as the Troika - are monitoring austerity measures that were a condition of a 240bn-euro (£190bn; $325bn) bailout. The BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens says that workers marched through the capital carrying banners and slogans hitting out at cuts and taxes that continue to cause so much anger.
The lenders have praised Greece's progress in meeting the targets set. It has achieved a "primary budget surplus", with its deficit wiped out apart from interest owed on the bailout. One of the demonstrators, secondary school teachers' union President Themis Kotsifakis said Greece was being brought to its knees by the cuts imposed at the behest of the government, the EU and the International Monetary Fund.
After six years of recession, the economy is expected to return to growth this year. "They are destroying the country's public services," he said. "They are firing teachers, school guards, cleaners and other state workers - this policy must be stopped or it will negatively affect all of society."
But the BBC's Mark Lowen says that after Greece's high court ruling that recent wage cuts to judges, the armed forces and emergency service workers were illegal and must be repaid, there will be tense discussions about the widening hole in next year's finances. Our correspondent says that while the violence of past demonstrations is gone - the pain of austerity is still deeply felt in Greece, where more privatisations are in the offing and one in four Greeks is without a job.
The nagging question remains about how to bring down a 26% unemployment rate caused chiefly by four years of austerity, our correspondent adds. The government insists that there is no alternative to its austerity path - which is bearing fruit. The deficit has been wiped out except for interest on the bailout and six years of recession are now due to end.
But Greece is still the Eurozone's problem child, our correspondent says, with debt remaining unsustainably high alongside a wide hole in next year's budget - which international lenders are in Athens to discuss.
Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis on Wednesday promised the pace of reform would not be reduced and a large-scale privatisation programme would be accelerated.
"[The year] 2014 is expected to be the first year in which the economy will show positive growth rates," he told a news conference south of Athens. "But that does not excuse any relaxation."