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Anastasia Balezdrova

The today’s protest of taxi owners in Athens grew to a fiery confrontation with the police. It all ran high when the their union leader Evtimios Limberopoulos informed them that the meeting with the Minister of Transport had no result.

Dozens of water bottles, plastic cups of coffee and even stones flew at the policemen who were blocking the entrance to the Ministry of Transport with two buses. A group of more raged protesters tried to enter the yard of the building. The police responded with tear gas, which not only surprised but also made angry the protesting taxi owners. They started shouting "Down with the junta of PASOK" and made serious threats and curses to Minister Yannis Ragousis and defied that "if we sink, they will sink with us too."

One of the protesters tried to wrest a pylon of street lighting lamps. Some colleagues tried to keep it, but others took three lamps and threw them at the officers. Others headed to the reporters, accusing them that they presented their protest in a negative light, but other protesters calmed them down.

For a while, the site in front of the ministry was like a battlefield. Trade unionists were trying in vain to calm the spirits, saying in the loudspeaker that the police are not to blame for the government policy. When employees appeared behind the windows of the building to watch what was happening, some of the taxi owners lost their temper, "Hornets, go inside and work. We pay you for that, not to hang by the windows."

The third day of taxi owners’ protest began peacefully. Hundreds of people gathered outside the Ministry of Transport, hoping that the leadership of the trade union would be able to meet with the Minister. Many of them came with their spouses and two girls were carrying posters with calls to the Minister and giving flowers to the policemen who guarded the building.

The trade union leader Evtimios Limberopoulos informed his colleagues that two of them have lost their lives during the past two days due to the long protests in the hot sun and at temperatures above 40 degrees. Taxi owners stood silent for a minute in memory of their deceased colleagues, and then the trade union delegation entered the building to meet with the Minister.

After more than an hour and a half of waiting, the union leader informed the taxi drivers protesting against the full liberalization of their profession that the Minister had not even read their proposal. "We offered them to give us 6 months for a dialogue, to promise that they will include the requirement for a number of taxis per capita and that they will not allow the formation of cartels." According to the trade union leader, the Minister said once again that "the liberalization will take place on the basis of rules and principles" and that he would inform them of any decision.

Evtimios Limberopoulos said that the fight has only just begun and stated to his colleagues that the trade union will inform them on the radio for the protests to be held without notice. Some of the taxi owners were not of that opinion. They tried to enter the Ministry and started the clashes. When trade unionists managed to convince them that the protests will be announced almost immediately, taxi owners began leaving the area around the Ministry commenting, "A soft form of protest would lead to nothing. We have to block ports and airports again. Let them walk ten miles, if necessary."

The strike of taxi owners provoked a serious dispute between the government and New Democracy, which the government accuses of patronizing the protests. The situation got worse after the "blue" MP and former trade unionist Yiannis Manolis appeared on the union's protest rally. New Democracy defined the Minister of Transport Yannis Ragousis as an "architect of chaos" and a "spectator" of the events.

Although the trade union follows the tactics of unexpected protests, it is very possible taxi owners to go to the houses of ministers or to the offices of particular television channels, which they consider an "enemy" to the strike.