Services shut down as thousands protest cuts

ATHENS (AP):

Services across Greece shut down yesterday as unions staged a 24-hour general strike and held peaceful demonstrations to protest further austerity cuts in the cash-strapped country.

The strike disrupted public transport, halted ferry and train services, shut down courts and state-run schools, and left state hospitals and the ambulance service functioning with emergency staff.

FLIGHTS CANCELLED

Dozens of flights were cancelled or rescheduled as air traffic controllers walked off the job for three hours in support of the labour action.

In Athens, two separate protest marches to Parliament were poorly attended due to driving rain, with a total of 12,000 people, mostly Communist party supporters, shouting anti-austerity slogans.

Up to 10,000 protesters held two separate demonstrations in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city.