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Greek farmers clash with riot police in Athens

Friday, 12 February 2016 11:22 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 12 February 2016 11:21 AM ]

Farmers clash with police officers blocking the entrance to the Greek Agriculture Ministry in Athens, Feb. 12, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Violent clashes have erupted between Greek farmers and riot police during a massive protest gathering in central Athens over the government’s planned pension reforms and new tax hikes.

Hundreds of farmers from across Greece gathered in the Greek capital on Friday for a two-day protest against the government’s plans to impose new tax hikes and reform the pension system.

Fierce clashes erupted when protesters from Crete, Greece’s biggest island, scuffled with police guarding the entrance to the ministry. Riot police used tear gas to repel the protesters, who were throwing rocks and setting dumpsters on fire.

“The farmers attempted to push the police in front of the ministry’s entrance. The police used tear gas to stop them,” media outlets quoted a police official as saying.

Farmers clash with police amid tear gas smoke in front of the Agriculture Ministry in Athens, Feb. 12, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Farming associations have been staging highway blockades for more than two weeks.

The protests against the pension reforms have united a disparate group of professionals. Over the past weeks, lawyers, accountants, engineers, doctors, dentists, and seamen, among others, have staged rallies against the planned overhaul of the country’s troubled pension system.

The pension reforms are required under an economic bailout program provided by Greece’s international lenders, which apparently remain Greece’s only chance amid an acute economic meltdown.

Greece’s international creditors are the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.

They have already granted Greece two bailout loans — one in 2010 and the other in 2012 — worth a total of 240 billion euros (272 billion dollars) following the economic crisis in the country that started back in 2009.

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