RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
NPR's Sylvia Poggioli joins us now, on the line from Athens. Good morning.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: It sounds like, from just what I've said, that it's pretty out of control there in Athens today.
POGGIOLI: But the first part of the rally was really, really quite peaceful. And then some people dispersed, and then a group of young people - we don't know if they were organized anarchists, but they certainly were organized, ready for violence. They came prepared. They had facemasks. They had bars with which to pry paving and stone(ph) from the streets. They taunted the police. And after a while, the police responded with tear gas, stun grenades. And from what we understand, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the - at a branch bank nearby, was set on fire. Three people died, two women and a man. And four people, who were seriously injured, have been hospitalized.
MONTAGNE: Now, how representative are these demonstrators, would you say, of Greeks as a whole? Because, of course, many Greeks have been out in the street demonstrating over these last weeks.
POGGIOLI: But, you know, it is the first test for this government, that has just announced these very, very austere measures - wage and pension cuts in the public sector, hikes in consumer tax - consumer product taxes. So it's - we'll have to see now. We haven't yet heard from the government reaction to what happened. But tomorrow, the parliament is expected to pass the law enabling these measures to be enacted.
MONTAGNE: Just finally, Greece is in big financial trouble. And even though today's demonstrators might be a fringe version of the demonstrations, there are a lot of people who wonder why Greeks are so vehement to keep pensions and other benefits when the country's in so much trouble that, by Western standards, might be called gold-plated.
POGGIOLI: Well, you know, actually, Greece is not alone. Even Germany has a pretty solid safety net - not perhaps as generous as the one in Greece. The one in Greece was definitely - was swollen. The public sector is huge. Something like one in three Greeks work in the public sector. It is really over the top. But - and - but, you know, unions have been strong, and there's a strong sense that these were - these - they were entitled to these privileges.
MONTAGNE: Sylvia, thanks very much.
POGGIOLI: Thank you, Renee.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Sylvia Poggioli joined us on the line from Athens.
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MONTAGNE: This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
