Greek workers hold 24-hour strike

Thousands of civil servants and other workerswalked off the job WednesdayinGreece, part of a 24-hour protest against austerity measures imposed by the governmentin abid to avoid debt default.

The 24-hour strike by public sector workers comes after a string of work stoppages by different groups,including taxi driversand tax collectors.

CBC's Margaret Evans said large crowds turned up Wednesday morning outside the Greek parliament in Athens, where they met lines of riot police.

Evans said police used different tactics Wednesday to try to avoid the violent clashes that have markedearlier demonstrations, including limiting the number of protesters sitting in the centre of the square and trying to keep apart columns of demonstrators flowing in from different streets.

"They did use tear gas, and earlier on we did hear the sound of stun grenades," Evans said.

Greek police said 10 people were arrested and two officers were slightly injured in the clashes.

CBC's Susan Ormiston, whowas also on hand for the protest in Athens,said thousands "showed up in the centre to say to the government, 'We don't believe those austerity cuts will make a difference, that they will get us out of this mess.'"

Ormiston said protesters blasted the government andsaid slashing the budget, cutting wagesand eliminating jobs wouldn't produce the change needed to propel the country out of the debt crisis.

Civil servants weren't the only workers off the job Wednesday air traffic controllers stayed away from work, forcing airlines to ground flights in and out of the country. Lawyers and teachers joined the job actions, and state hospitals were operating with limited staff.

Public transport employees were holding work stoppages in the morning and evening, and state television and radio pulled news programs off the air.

Civil servants are protesting plans to suspend about 30,000 staff on partial pay, part of new cutbacks that follow salary and pension cuts, as well as repeated waves of tax hikes over the past year and a half.

Greece relies on a110 billion ($145 billion) package of international bailout loans to prevent default and to pay salaries and pensions. But it has slipped on meeting budget targets requiredto qualify for the funds.

Its international creditors said this week that a decision on whether to give the country the critical next batch of loans, worth8 billion ($10.5 billion), would be made sometime this monthfar later than the originally expected September.

Althoughthe country has said it only has funds to keep it solvent until mid-October without the next loan instalment, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said Tuesday that Greece has enough money to pay pensions, salaries and bondholders through mid-November.

Venizelos insisted Greece would be able to meet its commitments and that there was no question of a defaultbut urged his countrymen to pay their taxes and support the government effort to ensure the situation doesn't deteriorate.

In Brussels, Antonio Borges, the head of theIMF's Europe program, piled pressure on Greece to take more stringent measures to get its economy back on track, saying there was no rush to take a decision on the next slice of bailout money because the country doesn't face a big bond repayment deadline until December.