Friday, May 07, 2010

The Mother Of All Understatements

On May 5, 2010 here is what was happening in Greece…
  • > Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in a nationwide strike to protest new taxes and government spending cuts. 
  • > Riots over harsh new austerity measures left three bank workers dead and engulfed the streets of Athens. 
  • > Angry protesters tried to storm parliament.
  • Molotov cocktails were hurled at police and buildings were torched.
  • Police responded with barrages of tear gas.
  • On the streets of Athens, demonstrators chanted "Thieves, thieves!" as they attempted to break through a riot police cordon guarding Parliament.
  • Protesters chased ceremonial guards away from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of Parliament.
  • Tear gas drifted across the city center as rioters hurled paving stones and fire bombs at police.
  • Firefighters extinguished blazes at least two buildings — the bank and a branch of the Finance Ministry — while protesters set up burning barricades and torched cars and a fire truck.
  • Police said 12 people were injured in the riots.
  • Journalists also walked off the job, suspending television and radio news broadcasts.
  • Violence also broke out in the northern city of Thessaloniki, where another 20,000 people marched through the city center and some youths smashed store windows.
Now for The Mother of All Understatements. This is a quote from an article in The Wall Street Journal…
“We may have an uprising in the making,” one senior Greek official said.

I’m not kidding you but I dare say that this Senior Greek Official is kidding himself.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

“We may have an uprising in the making,” Hey...do you think? Pansy

Anonymous said...

Me thinks there is indeed discontent. Reminds me of the girlfriend's comment to her boyfriend who was shooting out the window at the cops, "Bugsy, you've done something wrong." Rod