Greek police have fired teargas and pepper spray at protesting pensioners after a group of them attempted to push over a police van near the office of the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, whose leftwing government faces mounting pressure over planned austerity measures. Protesters chanted: “Shame on you, shame on you!” with one group of elderly demonstrators trying to tip over the van, triggering the police response. Protesters ran, with one grey-haired man falling to his knees and coughing and several others appearing to be in distress. In response to opposition party criticism, police said they were suspending indefinitely the use of teargas at “rallies of workers and pensioners”. Fifty-two per cent of Greek households rely on pensions directly or indirectly to meet monthly expenses, the survey found.

Source: The Guardian October 03, 2016 15:27 UTC