Greece gripped by general strike against pension reform

Greece was gripped on Thursday by its first 24-hour general strike of the year organized by trade unions protesting reforms to the pension system that if carried out would see Athens receive further loans by international lenders.

Thursday's action was expected to be the largest walkout since the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took office, as thousands of strikers gathered in central Athens from early Thursday ahead of a march to the parliament.

The ruling Radical Left SYRIZA party, which strongly supported anti-austerity protests in the past, issued a statement urging people to participate in the mobilizations to "assist the government in negotiations with lenders."

Schools and courts were closed, while hospitals were only run on emergency personnel. Domestic flights were grounded, ferries stayed docked in ports and most public transportation services were paralyzed.

The strike was held as cabinet ministers and representatives of lenders who returned to Athens on Monday discussed the Greek government's controversial pension system reform.

According to government sources, in order to ensure the system's sustainability, lenders pushed for reductions in pensions of up to 30 percent, while the government opted for a 1.5 percent raise in contributions to pension funds.

The goal is said to save at least 1.8 billion euros this year should the pension reform be carried out.

Unions protested that the proposals on the table in combination with new tax hikes will strangle the real economy and Greek society instead of supporting efforts to restore economic growth after six years of harsh austerity that has fuelled recession. Endi