Monday evening Greek Parliament, Syntagma Square in downtown Athens: Inside the Plenary the leaders of political parties argue on the omnibus bill with the prior actions the government brought for voting. Outside the building, unions protest the bill in general, the provisions on strike and the cuts in children allowances in particularly.
While inside the Plenary, the politicians kept the level of argument within the proper behavior code, outside the building anti-authoritarians and leftist organizations had a real tough argument with riot police.
The protesters tried to enter in the premises of the Palriament. when the riot police tried to stop them they threw paint on them and their shields.
@dromografos
The issue developed as expected: riot police fired teargas, even attacked protesters with cold water – on a chilly winter night.
The two sides clashed on the stairs leading to the Parliament.
Protesters hurled molotov cocktail bombs.
Voting the omnibus bill and the prior actions is a precondition for a successful Eurogroup on Jan 22nd, the conclusion of the third review of the Greek program and the release of a bailout tranche estimated to between 4.5 -5 billion euros.
The voting added one more MP on SYRIZA ranks as an independent lawmaker voted in favor of the bill and has reportedly sent a letter asking to join the parliamentary group as “associate lawmaker” [ I have no idea if there is such a political term!].
It remains to be seen whether the government will increase the number of its seat as the resignation of deputy education minister is still pending and so is his future in Tsipras’ junior coalition partner Independent Greeks.
At the end of the voting, 154 government MPs gave their blessing to the bill.
