Greece paralyzed by 24-hour strike by civil servants

A nationwide strike by Greek civil servants to protest ever steeper austerity measures paralyzed the country today, bringing transport to a halt and grounding all flights.

Teachers and lawyers joined the work stoppage and even hospitals were running only on emergency staff, the Associated Press reports.

The BBC reports that at least 16,000 people have joined the 24-hour protests organized by the main unions in central Athens. Police have fired tear gas at small groups of protesters who threw stones.

The New York Times reports that the country's two main unions and the Communist Party held separate rallies in Athens.

The newspaper says men and women shouted "traitors" at riot police in central Athens while a crowd of younger protesters chanted "cops, pigs, murderers."

Dozens of masked youths, some wearing gas masks, threw chunks of stone at police guarding Parliament, at Athens University and outside luxury hotels on the fringes of the capital's central Constitution Square, the Times reports.

Civil servants are protesting plans to suspend about 30,000 staff on partial pay, part of new cutbacks that come on top of salary and pension cuts. Greece has also seen repeated waves of tax hikes over the past year and a half.

Greece has depended upon a $145 billion package of international bailout loans for more than a year, but has fallen behind on meeting budget targets required to qualify for the funds. The government says it has enough money for salaries and pension through mid-November, but needs the next batch of loans to avoid bankruptcy.

Greek civil servant and trade unionist Tiana Andreou told the BBC that people's lives hav been ruined by the austerity measures and that unions "have decided that we're going to stop this."

BBC correspondent Mark Lowen reports from Athens:

The government says it is in a very difficult position, because it must pursue its austerity drive to meet its fiscal targets and reduce the budget deficit to avoid bankruptcy within the next few weeks. But this wave of social unrest is growing by people who say the measures are deepening the recession, stagnating the economy and stunting Greece's growth.