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20 May, 2010 16:00

“In Greece we call them the well-known ‘unknown people’” – journalist

More than 20,000 protesters have marched to Greece's parliament to challenge the new debt reduction measures. According to Greek journalist Stelios Chrystostomidas the protest was “extremely peaceful”.

This is despite the growing public anger over deep salary and pension cuts, as well as tax hikes.

Thursday’s protest in Athens was a part of the fourth general strike this year. Almost 2,000 police were deployed to control the crowds.

Violent protests two weeks ago left three people dead after a bank fire.

Chrystostomidas noted that the rally was peaceful, despite the fact that “there is a concentrated anger among Greeks, who not only see their salaries being reduced, but also the cost of living increases.”

“People demonstrated very peacefully about what's going on with the IMF and other things. I would also like to stress to you and your viewers that if some 100-200 people manage to penetrate the protest and cause chaos, it's not a problem of Greek society, but a problem for police. We ordinary Greeks even have a name for them – the well-known ‘unknown people’,” Chrystostomidas told RT.

Meanwhile, author and journalist David Degraw says the austerity measures in Greece are part of a global plan to eliminate the middle class.

“The austerity measures having been implemented in Greece are very much a design of the IMF. The IMF has carried out economic imperialism throughout the world and the result through IMF efforts is to get rid of the middle class in country after country after country,” he says. “And that started to come back home to the United States now. California, like Greece, is just ruling out harsh austerity measures. So this has been this all coordinated effort by the richest people on the planet to eliminate the middle class. They don’t want the middle class to deal with any more and that’s what unfolding right now globally.”

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