Proteste gegen Sparkurs in Griechenland
Greek farmers protested against planned pension and tax reforms in Athens on the weekend. The people are venting their anger after the referendum, some commentators write sympathetically. Others see no alternative to the Tsipras government's reform course.
More and more Greeks will take to the street
A growing number of people will soon join the protests, the alternative website Info-War believes:
“In reality no one in the government has understood what's going on (indeed everyone is acting as if they didn't understand a thing). The protests are the voice that was silenced when the people rose up against the austerity measures - regardless of the consequences that such a decision entails. ... The people who will take to the streets in the near future can't be labelled left or right, because neither the left nor the right are in a position to inspire or mobilise such anger. ... A broad section of the population will soon take part in upcoming events: para-state elements and anarchists, hairdressers and farmers, archaeologists and geologists.”
Opposition offers no alternative to austerity
In view of fierce protests in Greece opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis of the Nea Demokratia party has called on the government to repeal its recent pension reform. The conservatives should stop using populist tactics, liberal news website Protagon writes:
“If the pensions aren't cut, the contributions increased and new taxes introduced where is the government supposed to get the 1.8 billion euros the country has agreed on with its creditors? Nea Demokratia had nothing to say about that. The claim that all the problems would be solved if the country got shot of the Syriza client state can't be taken seriously because the problem will hardly be solved simply by dismissing all the advisors appointed by Syriza. That's a joke.”