Greeks protest after pensioner's suicide
By correspondent Lisa Millar, wiresUpdated April 06, 2012 09:56:06
More protests against austerity measures are being planned in Greece following the suicide of a pensioner who said he could no longer afford to live.
People demonstrating against austerity measures after Dimitris Christoulas's death have clashed with riot police in Athens in recent days.
Flowers, candles and sympathy notes are being left in the main square, where Mr Christoulas killed himself.
The 77-year-old left a note criticising politicians over the country's financial crisis.
He said his pension had been cut to a point where it nullified any chance of survival, and wrote he would rather have a decent end than be forced to scavenge in the rubbish to feed himself.
"It's horrible. We shouldn't have reached this point. The politicians in parliament who brought us here should be punished for this," 60-year-old pensioner Anastassia Karanika said.
Greeks have called him a martyr with some protesters saying it was not suicide but state-perpetrated murder.
The conservative newspaper Eleftheros Typos said his act was filled with "profound political symbolism" that could "shock Greek society and the political world and awaken their conscience" before a parliamentary election to determine Greece's future.
Depression and suicide rates have reportedly increased in Greece as the country introduces tough austerity measures to deal with huge debts.
So far this week, police reported that at least four people have tried to kill themselves because of financial troubles.
New Democracy and PASOK, which have ruled Greece for decades, expressed their sorrow for the tragedy, but political opponents attacked them for joining in the mourning.
"Shame on them. The accomplices responsible for the suffering and despair of the Greek people ... should at least keep quiet in the face of the hideous results of the capitalist crisis and their policies, instead of pretending to be saviours and sensitive," the KKE Communist party said.
Unemployment in Greece has surged to a record 21 per cent - twice the euro zone average - with one out of two young people jobless.
Many Greeks feel ordinary people like Mr Christoulas, a retired pharmacist, are being forced to pay for a crisis that was not of their making.
"When dignified people like him are brought to this state, somebody must answer for it," said Costas Lourantos, head of the pharmacists union in the Attica region.
ABC/Reuters
Topics: world-politics, international-financial-crisis, greece
First posted April 06, 2012 09:13:21
Interesting. There are many retired folks in the USA who are killing themselves, especially those facing eviction from their homes. You knew that, right? No one does anything. Not the government/business, not Obama, and except for a few cases, not Occupy. In Greece, however, the people protest the death of a pensioner.
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