Greek police fire tear gas to disperse angry farmers in Athens

Greek riot police were dispatched to the ministry where they clashed with the protesting farmers.

Violent clashes have erupted between Greek farmers and riot police during a massive protest gathering in central Athens over the government’s planned pension reforms and new tax hikes.

The riot police responded by throwing tear gas at the farmers.

“They fooled us”, Manolis Paterakis, head of one of Crete’s farmer blockades, said about the government.

Riot police guarding the entrance to the ministry fired teargas to disperse farmers who hurled tomatoes and stones at the building smashing windows and used shepherd’s crooks to repel police during the tense but brief scuffles.

Four protesters were detained during the clashes, a police official said.

The pension reforms are required under an economic bailout program provided by Greece’s worldwide lenders, which apparently remain Greece’s only chance amid an acute economic meltdown.

Greek farmers have been protesting against the Tsipras government over the past weeks due to the removal of major benefits and subsidies and planned social security and tax reforms.

Meanwhile, another group of protesting producers was briefly blocking a highway leading to the Athens global airport, causing long lines of cars.

However, Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters upon his arrival in Brussels for today’s meeting that there has been progress in the negotiation talks between the Greek government of Alexis Tsipras and the representatives of Greece’s global creditors.

This afternoon, protesters will start an overnight sit-in in front of the Parliament, in Athens’ Syntagma, with a final rally scheduled for tomorrow.

The pension reform has triggered anger among professional groups including lawyers and doctors.

Although the government initially banned tractors from the Athens protest, Nikos Toskas, the deputy interior minister for public order, said a few would be allowed through for a short period.

“It was clear that we could not permit tractors to enter the city, but we have permitted a symbolic number to take part in the protest rally”, he said.

This version corrects to show that tractors were only at eastern, not western, highways into Athens.

Derek Gatopoulos and Raphael Kominis in Athens contributed.