Laid-off cleaners to protest outside police headquarters
Laid-off cleaning staff from Greece’s Finance Ministry will on Tuesday stage a protest outside the Police headquarters in Athens in solidarity with three of their colleagues testifying on charges of disturbing the peace and of assault causing bodily harm during clashes with police officers on July 10.
In a statement Monday, the cleaners denied the allegations. They said they were staging a peaceful protest that was “once more met with a police crackdown.”
In the same statement, cleaners vowed to continue action, now in its 118th day, against their dismissal.
The Supreme Court will on September 23 discuss an appeal by the Finance Ministry that put on hold a ruling by a lower court ordering the ministry to rehire about 440 sacked cleaners.
The ministry argued that the First Instance Court does not have the authority to rule on such matters and that the sackings were in the national interest.