New Strike Paralyzes Greece

By NIKI KITSANTONIS
NYT

ATHENS — Most international travel was halted and public services thrown into disarray on Thursday as thousands of Greek workers protesting austerity measures staged a general strike.

All scheduled flights into and out of the country were canceled, international trains were not operating, bus and subway service was suspended and ferries remained in their ports. Tax offices and courts shut down and hospitals were operating with emergency staff. The streets, eerily empty early in the morning ahead of three scheduled protest rallies, were littered with mounds of trash as a strike at the city’s main landfill entered its sixth day.

Thursday’s strike was called by the country’s two main labor unions, which represent some 2.5 million workers and have led resistance to the new austerity measures raising taxes and slashing civil servants’ vacation pay by 30 percent.

The measures, expected to raise some 4.8 billion euros and help plug a budget deficit that stands at 12.7 percent of gross domestic product, were approved by Parliament on Friday as protesters clashed with police outside.

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