Municipal staff clash outside radio station
Municipal employees protesting the termination of their short-term contracts clashed with police outside the premises of the Athens City Hall municipal radio station, 984 FM, in the central district of Gazi on Monday, as municipal councilors attempted to hold a meeting.
Officers used tear gas and flares to disperse the angry crowd of demonstrators, many of whom tried to force their way into the radio station?s premises.
According to the president of the workers? union, Vassilis Polymeropoulos, three demonstrators were injured in the scuffles.
Municipal councilors have been unable to hold council meetings at the premises of City Hall opposite Kotzia Square as contract workers have been staging a sit-in there for more than three weeks in protest at the non-renewal of their contracts.
At the end of last month, municipal councilors were obliged to vote on the city’s annual budget in a central Athens hotel as contract workers continued to occupy City Hall. Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis deemed that the conditions of the sit-in did not guarantee security for councilors nor allow them to freely express their opinion through their vote.
