This Week
MONDAY 2004 state budget proposal to be tabled in Parliament. The Acropolis in Athens and Knossos on Crete will be closed as Culture Ministry guards launch a 48-hour strike, while ministry contract employees hold a 48-hour strike demanding higher pay and permanent contracts. State high school teachers stage a 48-hour strike demanding higher pay and will hold a protest rally at 11 a.m. outside the Old University building on Panepistimiou St, Athens. State high school teachers in Thessaloniki hold a demonstration at 11 a.m at the Venizelos statue. State elementary school teachers and private school teachers stage a 24-hour strike for better pay. Municipal and prefectural staff, including rubbish collectors, stage 24-hour strike for better pay with a demonstration at 10 a.m. outside the Interior Ministry. Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos to brief National Council on the results of his meetings last week in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Hospital doctors in Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki stage a three-day strike demanding higher salaries and more hirings. Employees of the National First Aid Center (EKAB) stage a five-hour work stoppage, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., demanding better work conditions and higher salaries. At the same time, the EKAB union convenes to discuss further strike action. TUESDAY Supreme Court discusses appeal to clear name of the late Grigoris Staktopoulos who was jailed for the murder of US journalist George Polk in 1948, during the Greek civil war. Athens 2004 Organizing Committee, in conjunction with IOC’s Medical Committee, holds the Seventh International Olympic Congress of Sports Sciences at the Hilton Hotel. Athens 2004 President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki will make the opening address. Health Minister Costas Stefanis, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos and renowned heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub will also attend. To October 11. For further information, www.ioc.worldcongress.com. UNHCR’s representative in Greece, Robert White, holds a press conference on «Improvements in the Asylum System in Greece and Europe.» At the offices of the European Parliament, 8 Amalias Ave. WEDNESDAY Athens taxi drivers start a 48-hour strike in protest at a government decision to install cash registers in their vehicles. To October 9. Culture Ministry, in cooperation with the Directorate of Modern Cultural Heritage, holds an event to honor the contribution of Roma folk musicians to Greek culture. At the Museum for Folk Instruments in Plaka. Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos will attend. New Democracy leader Costas Karamanlis to attend the European People’s Party meeting in Brussels. He is also to meet with Archbishop Christodoulos, who will speak at the meeting. Police, Fire Brigade and Coast Guard officers are to start a three-day demonstration in uniform in Athens. They want the government to acknowledge the dangerous nature of their professions. To October 10. THURSDAY Prime Minister Costas Simitis to chair the PASOK party’s National Council meeting. Judges in Athens and Piraeus hold a two-hour work stoppage, from 12.30 p.m. to 2 p.m., with a demonstration outside the Athens Court of First Instance. Judges are protesting their financial package. Foreign Minister George Papandreou travels to Antalya, Turkey, to attend the Mediterranean Forum and foreign ministers’ meeting. To October 10. Hospital employees begin five-hour work stoppages, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. this and every Thursday until the end of October, demanding better pay. SATURDAY Greek branch of SIPE, the World Psychiatric Society, in cooperation with the ministries of health and culture, holds the 17th International Conference on Psychopathology for Expression and Therapy through Art, titled «Body and Soul,» at the Astir Palace Hotel, Vouliagmeni. To October 14.
