Greek riot police about to use pepper spray against protesters outside town hall - Thessaloniki, Greece

Greek riot police about to use pepper spray against protesters outside town hall - Thessaloniki, Greece, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

The riot police were used to break up a protest outside the town hall in Thessaloniki last week. Despite a pledge by the Minister for Protection of the Citizen (obviously, 1984 is not required reading for those who renamed the ministry) that the police would not be allowed to use chemical weapons such as tear gas and pepper spray they employed both liberally on the peaceful demonstration..

That, like some many other promise made by the recently elected PASOK administration seems to have gone out of the window. With the economic crisis set to worsen and austerity measures unprecedented in modern Greek history on the table this is just the beginning. As a speaker at a rally I attended today pointed out the war reparations which played a pivotal role in the economic collapse that brought down the Weimar republic amounted to 2.5% of GNP (the Wiki article on WWI reparations quotes a figure of 4-7%). Greece is being asked to devote 12.5% of its GNP to servicing its debt payments. There is no way any government can last with such a noose around its neck.