Greek people renew protests against pension reform

Thousands of Greek people have once again taken to the streets in the capital, Athens, to protest against planned modifications of the country’s pension system demanded by international lenders in return for rescue funds.

According to media reports, about 3,000 people took part in the peaceful protests outside parliament in Athens on Saturday.

The ADEDY public sector union said in a statement the march on Syntagma square, next to parliament, was called to say "no to the dissolution of the security system."

Holding banners reading "You cannot bargain with social security," the protesters also chanted "Your hands off our pensions!"

They also stressed that they will continue to protest till their demands are met.

"We will fight to protect our rights and force the government to withdraw this monstrous plan that it calls a reform," the secretary general of private sector union GSEE, Nikos Kioutsoukis, told Reuters.

Meanwhile, Greek labor unions will stage a 24-hour general strike on February 4 against the pension reforms. It will be the third such walkout in three months.

The rallies were the latest in a series of protests against the austerity cuts Greece has imposed over the years in return for rescue funds.

The protests come as the Greek Labor Ministry is working on a new system under which state-guaranteed pensions will be reportedly cut by half - to a minimum of 384 euros - and the rest will depend on a person’s income and years of social security payments.

In November 2015, the administration of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras approved a law scrapping most early retirement benefits, raising the retirement age and increasing contributions for healthcare.

The legislation also includes plans to overhaul the country's pension system, merging several pension funds into one and reducing supplementary pensions.

The regulation was passed in exchange for a three-year, 86-billion-euro (93-billion-dollar) bailout that Athens accepted recently from its creditors - the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund - to save the Mediterranean state from crashing out of the eurozone.

Last July, the government of Tsipras agreed to the demands for austerity measures by lenders in exchange for the multi-billion bailout deal.

The decision triggered outrage from Greeks, who argue Tsipras came to power in January 2015 on an anti-austerity platform.

Greece has already received two bailouts in 2010 and 2012, worth a total of 240 billion euros (USD 272 billion) from its creditors following the economic crisis in the European country back in 2009.

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