Violent protests erupt in Athens over debt suicide

Matthew Sparkes
The Telegraph
April 5, 2012

Violent protests broke out in Athens last night after an elderly man committed suicide near to the country’s Parliament building, claiming he was distraught at the prospect of “looking in the garbage to feed myself”.

The pensioner, named locally as Dimitris Christoulas, shot himself with a handgun a few hundred yards from the Greek parliament, which has been the focus of numerous violent protests against tough austerity measures in recent months. Witnesses report he claimed to be concerned about leaving his children in debt before he took his own life.

Pensions in Greece have been slashed by up to a quarter as part of harsh austerity measures designed to bring down the country’s deficit and qualify it for bailout packages from the EU and IMF.

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This article was posted: Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 8:11 am

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