Athens protesters resolve to fight to the finish

Guardian
June 25, 2011

Maria Kittou had rushed to Syntagma Square on hearing that the next wave of austerity measures would include biting tax increases that would hit the poor hard. "They are pushing us to the edge," snarled the pensioner. Pointing at the Greek parliament building and shouting herself hoarse, she added: "These people aren't worthy of the Greek flag. They have brought us nothing but shame. They have to go."

At 75, Kittou has endured the ravages of Greece's brutal German occupation, bloody civil war, authoritarian rightwing rule and military dictatorship. Thirty-seven years after the return of democracy, there is a growing sense that the country is at war again, only this time fighting a battle of epic economic proportions.

"It is the lack of any light at the end of the tunnel that makes it so hard," said Kittou, one of many who have turned Athens's main plaza into Europe's pre-eminent fiscal battleground. This week, as the country confronts what EU president José Manuel Barroso, pictured below, has called its "moment of truth", the self-declared "people's assembly" promised the mother of all fights.

"This plan must not pass. On Wednesday, the day of the vote, we will encircle the vouli [300-seat House]. We will send the message that people will not accept it."

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