Greek pensioner's suicide triggers protests
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E-mail Xinhua, April 6, 2012
Greek citizens on Thursday night staged fresh anti-austerity protests in front of the parliament building in central Athens, where a senior pensioner committed suicide one day earlier over austerity measures aimed to address a severe debt crisis.
Protesters engage in minor clashes with the police, as youths pelted rocks against anti-riot police forces who used tear gas to disperse the group.
One Greek photo reporter was injured during the clash. Another Greek journalist was injured in a similar protest on Wednesday evening.
The suicide of 77-year-old Dimitris Christoulas, who shot himself in the head after chanting slogans against government prescribed salaries cuts as well as wages and tax hikes on Wednesday, came as an agonizing reminder of the pain brought by years of austerity measures aimed to avoid a Greek disorderly default.
The incident had inevitable political reverberations in a country gearing up for parliamentary elections expected in late April or in early May.
Hundreds of people stopped by Syntagma square on Thursday to leave flowers and light candles under the tree where the retired pharmacist committed suicide.
According to local media, Christoulas, who had participated in several similar protests in recent months, had criticized the government's harsh austerity drive in a suicide note, saying he preferred to die than scavenge for food.
Greece has been kept afloat with multi-billion bailout packages from European counterparts and the International Monetary Fund since May 2010, in exchange for tough austerity and reform programs that have caused widespread public discontent.
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