Police are concentrating their resources on shielding the parliament building in Athens EPATens of thousands of Greeks are preparing to take to the streets to protest a parliamentary vote tonight that will approve a new series of austerity measures. Police factions have also gone on strike. Greek authorities are braced for riots — the worst of which are anticipated in Athens — in advance of the vote that will usher in a further €4.9 billion worth of pension cuts and tax increases. In return for agreeing to the new measures which come into effect next year, Greece will receive a third financial bailout that Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister, hopes will stabilise the country’s near-bust economy. Riot police squads and plainclothed officers — at least those who were not protesting themselves — were preparing to lock down the Greek…

Source: The Times May 18, 2017 11:03 UTC