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Greek farmers arrive in Athens for major sit-in

Farmers demonstrate outside the Greek parliament in Athens, during a protest against pension reform, February 12, 2016. (AFP photo)

Farmers from across Greece have arrived in the capital, Athens, to start a major protest and an all-night sit-in over controversial reforms in the country’s pension program.

Angry farmers wielding shepherd's staffs clashed with police in front of the Greek Agriculture Ministry on Friday, while others parked more than a dozen tractors nearby to block the streets.

Reports said ten police officers were slightly injured in the clashes while rubble from broken paving stones littered the road outside the ministry.

“They won't make us bend!” chanted the farmers who were waving Greek flags, demanding an access to the ministry.

Greek farmers are especially angry at a plan by the administration of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, which based on demands by Greece’s international lenders, would lead to some major changes in the country’s pension system. That would mean a tripled social security contribution for the farmers while it could impose higher taxes on their income.

“Whoever farms today, the only thing they will achieve is to have debts to the tax office,” Manolis Paterakis, head of one of Crete's farmer blockades, said of the Tsipras government, which took office in January 2015 on the promises of opposing the austerity measures imposed by the lenders and restore benefits to the lower classes.

“They fooled us,” Paterakis said, adding, “They were telling us that they support us, that they are fighting for the survival of the farmers, ... that young people need to return to their villages and work their land … the same people (now) come and confirm the exact opposite.”

Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters who hurled tomatoes, eggplants and stones at the ministry building as images showed smashed windows and other losses inflicted on the facility.

Some tents were also erected on Syntagma Square, a major hub of popular protest against austerity in Greece over the past few years. The farmers say they will hold an all-nigh sit-in followed by a bigger protest on Saturday.


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