A general strike is under way in Greece in protest against the next round of spending cuts, required in return for another bailout instalment.
Protestors In AthensIt is the country’s 20th national stoppage since the debt crisis erupted two years ago and comes as EU leaders meet in Brussels.
Taxi drivers, ferry workers, doctors, teachers and air traffic controllers are among those taking part.A small stand-off between police and demonstrators in Athens has ended.
Syntagma Square has now reopened to traffic; it was quite a small protest as Greek protests go and was mainly peaceful, says the BBC’s Mark Lowen in Athens.
Protesters threw petrol bombs and stones at police blocking off parts of the capital’s main square before parliament, and police responded with tear gas.
A 65-year-old man suffered a fatal heart attack during the demonstration, which was said not to be linked to the protests.
But local media are reporting that he was tear-gassed, our correspondent says.
Thousands of protesters gathered for rallies ahead of two separate demonstrations in central Athens, amid a heavy police presence.
Other protests were also planned across the country.
The strike is taking place as European leaders are in Brussels for a summit in which Greece’s economic fate is likely to feature large.
Greece is currently preparing a 13.5bn-euro (£11bn; $17.7bn) austerity package to satisfy the “troika” of International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank lenders in return for its next 31.5bn-euro tranche of aid.
The country is due to run out of money next month.
However, trade union leaders says they hope to show EU leaders that a new wave of wage and pension cuts will only worsen the plight of the Greek people.
‘Catastrophic measures’
Greece is in its fifth consecutive year of recession and more than a quarter of its workforce is unemployed.
“Just once, the government ought to reject the troika’s absurd demands,” said Yannis Panagopoulos, head of the GSEE private sector union.
“Agreeing to catastrophic measures means driving society to despair, and the consequences as well as the protests will then be indefinite,” he added.