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ATHENS: Greek police on Friday fought protesters angered by tough new austerity measures as the government appealed for help from hesitant European leaders to tackle its massive debt and deficit problems.
Strikes disrupted air and ground transport, as well as schools and hospitals, hitting economic activity hard two days after the government unveiled sweeping tax hikes and spending cuts that were approved by parliament on Friday.
A demonstration by several thousand protesters was marred by clashes after the head of Greece's main union, Yiannis Panagopoulos, was beaten by unknown assailants as he delivered a speech.
Panagopoulos' union, the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), later said it was an "organised" attack and that some of the assailants carried the flags of a small leftist group.
Another prominent protester, 87-year-old war resistance hero and former deputy Manolis Glezos, was hospitalised with breathing problems after a riot policeman sprayed tear gas in his face.
Five people were arrested in Athens and a handful of shops and banks along with a ministry building had their front windows smashed, police said. Around a dozen protesters and police were injured according to reports.
Several dozen interior ministry staff occupied the Greek National Printing House to prevent the latest austerity measures from being published in the government gazette, police said.
With parliamentary backing for the measures, designed to save 4.8 billion euros (6.5 billion dollars), Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou set out to secure eurozone support, having warned earlier that he might go to the International Monetary Fund if he failed to get it.
Ahead of a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday, Papandreou told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper he was "not asking for money" but other forms of solidarity.
"We need support from the European Union and our partners to obtain credit on the markets at better conditions. If we do not receive this aid, we will not be able to enact the changes we foresee."
Greece, struggling with a huge public debt and deficit, has had its credit ratings lowered and must now borrow money at rates far above those of other eurozone members.
Speaking ahead of the Merkel-Papandreou talks, Germany's Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said Berlin would not provide Greece with "one cent."
"Papandreou said that he didn't want one cent - in any case the German government will not give one cent," Bruederle told reporters.
Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker, who acts as the formal head in finance matters for the 16 nations that share the euro, said Greek measures taken so far meant that Athens would not need EU aid.
"The commitments taken by the Greek government are clearly paving the way towards an exit" from its debt and deficit crisis, Juncker said.
Europe's biggest economy, Germany is widely seen as the most likely candidate to help prevent a Greek default, which would be disastrous for the 16-nation eurozone.
But there is huge opposition in Germany against such a move, with angry editorials slamming alleged Greek corruption and wasteful spending.
There is also consternation in European Union circles that Greece managed to amass a debt of nearly 300 billion euros despite having received major funding from Brussels for decades.
Papandreou was to travel to Paris to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday. He will then fly to Washington next week to meet US President Barack Obama.
The government on Wednesday increased sales, tobacco and alcohol taxes and cut public sector holiday allowances. Pensions were also frozen in a package worth the equivalent of around 2.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Athens has promised the European Union it will reduce its public deficit this year by four percentage points from 12.7 percent.
Needing to borrow money to pay its bills, Greece successfully raised an urgently needed 5.0 billion euros (6.8 billion dollars) via a bond issue on Thursday.
But it had to pay an interest rate of about 6.38 percent or about twice the rate at which Germany can borrow.
HSBC bank, one of five banks handling the debt sale, said that interests in Greece had bought 23 percent of the bonds on offer while those in Britain and Germany had taken up 20 and 14 percent respectively.
In addition, according to HSBC, central banks and other official institutions had taken up 7.0 percent. - AFP/de
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