(8 Sep 2012) With international debt inspectors due to begin their latest assessment of Greece's finances this weekend, ordinary Greeks have been protesting a new round of austerity measures designed to save the country from defaulting on its mountain of debt.
Thousands of policemen, firefighters and coast guard officers marched through Athens on Thursday while chanting "thieves, thieves" in opposition to the government's planned austerity cuts.
Mock gallows were set up on an open-top van and a huge banner reading "troika" was hung up in reference to austerity inspectors from the European Union, the IMF and the European Central Bank that are pushing for the cuts.
The protest came amid deepening social gloom in Greece as official figures showed its unemployment rate had surged to 24.4 percent in June, which meant that more than 1.2 (m) million people were out of work, many of them youths.
And with a new 11.5 (b) billion euro (14.4 (b) billion U.S. dollar) austerity package on the horizon for 2013-14, the situation doesn't seem as if it will improve any time soon.
"They're dealing with the Greeks and they don't care about the consequences that come from the decisions they're bringing upon the Greek people," said Yannis Artopoios, a representative of the Fire Service Officers Association, in regards to Troika's arrival.
"They care only about some financial indices, but they don't see the lives of the people who are being driven to poverty," Artopoios added.
However, economists have stressed the importance of Greece's compliance with Troika requirements so as to save itself from bankruptcy.
"Greece is at the end of the road where implementations actually have to take place and produce results and promises have to stop," said independent economist, Vangelis Agapitos.
As well as potentially receiving a 31 (b) billion euro instalment, the Troika visit offers the potential for the Greek government to negotiate a reduction of interest rates and extension of payment periods for the its people.
Such benefits failed to provide solace to pensioners, however, as they faced the more urgent matter of having their access to medication cut off.
This is because private doctors and pharmacists refused to accept credit from Greece's largest state-run healthcare provider, EOPYY, as the government had not paid them for months.
"We can't even have our medications. And pensioners don't have money to pay for it because every month they have money withheld for medical care," complained the Head of a Pensioner Union, Dimos Koumbouris.
"Our lives are in danger. The lives of our families are in danger," he added.
Economist Vangelis Agapitos called the upcoming package tough but said Greece had "no option than to actually implement this in order to put the program back on its track."
But that provided little consolation for Athina Zorba, a former airport security guard in her late forties, who lost her job because of the crisis two years ago.
She said the private firm she worked for could no longer afford to employ all of its workers.
She is currently living with a cousin who also helps her with her expenses.
"It's a very bad situation. It's the first time that I'm finding myself in such a situation. I had always worked and had money in my pocket, and now it's horrible. It can't get any worse," said Zorba
And little consolation can be taken from the advice of economists who say the additional measures are necessary to keep Greece in the Eurozone.
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