30,000 protest Greek austerity plan

30,000 protest Greek austerity plan

ATHENS, Greece

About 30,000 people protested in Athens’ central Syntagma square Sunday evening against the government’s tough economic austerity policies.

The demonstration, larger than many others that have taken place during Greece’s economic crisis, appeared to be the first that resulted from spontaneous calls over social-media sites such as Facebook. Many others have been organized by unions or political factions.

Pointing at Parliament and its 300 legislators, many of Sunday’s protesters chanted “Thieves! Thieves!” Others shouted slogans against Prime Minister George Papandreou and the International Monetary Fund.

No violence was reported, and few police were on the scene.

Papandreou, buffeted by negative polls and protests such as these, has vowed to continue his fiscal reforms.

On Sunday, he warned against “sirens” calling for Greece to default on its debt. Speaking to an audience of local officials in western Greece, Papandreou said it is “foreign taxpayers’ money” that has allowed his nation to continue paying public- sector salaries and pensions.

Reforms are painful, but they are starting to pay off and the economy will return to growth in 2012, he said.

Activists climb Greenland oil rig

STOCKHOLM

Three Greenpeace activists climbed an oil rig off Greenland’s coast Sunday in an attempt to stop a Scottish oil company from starting deepwater drilling in the arctic waters, the environmental group said.

Greenpeace said the activists scaled the 53,000-ton rig Leiv Eiriksson, run by Cairn Energy, and are hanging under it in a pod.

It said the activists arrived at the rig in inflatable speedboats launched from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, which had avoided a Danish warship shadowing them for days.

The group has enough food and water to stay for 10 days in the pod, hanging a few meters from the drill-bit that would be used to strike oil, Greenpeace said.

Cairn won permission this month to drill up to seven oil exploration wells off the Arctic island’s west coast.

Associated Press