The Greek government has a new problem: A potential martyr. A 77-year-old man who recently recently shot and killed himself in Athens’ Syntagma Square has become a symbol for anti-austerity activists, leading to heavy protests Wednesday, including chants like ”this was no suicide, it was a state-perpetrated murder.” Greece, rocked by a tough state of austerity, has unemployment at 21 percent — higher for young people — and tens of thousands of jobs have been lost. (Photo: People gather at the site of the man’s shooting. Thanassis Stavrakis/AP)
MASS RIOTS in Athens, Greece.
At least 10 buildings went up in flames in protests today.
Dear Think Progress,
Once again, could you please take the extra few seconds and credit your photographs? None of the photos above are in the link you’ve provided and appear to be photos from Twitter or Instagram like the bottom left which I posted earlier: it belongs to mmgeissler. Thanks.
This stuff takes a lot of time to find if you’re not on the ground. And if you’re the original source, you deserve credit. Let’s take care not to just gank images. It takes ten seconds to link to a source. Let’s be good linking citizens, all. EDIT: To their credit, Think Progress added attribution to this post.
A sampling of some of the sites NewtGingrich.com redirects to. RickPerry.com had nothing on this amazing game of roulette.
Update December 8, 12:17p.m.: Fox called to say that John Stack, vice-president of newsgathering, “confirmed that an error was made and that the video has since been removed and measures will be taken to prevent this from happening again.”
Time to eat some crow. Do they make it in vegetarian? Alright, Russia Today, you got that part of the story right. (thanks banji-realness)
Papademos walks into a tumult: After days of chaotic political wrangling and general panic over Greece’s debt crisis (as well as the euro zone writ large, as Italy teeters on a dire edge), a new Prime Minister has been selected to replace the outgoing George Papandreau. The new man in charge is Lucas Papademos, the former VP of the European Central Bank. “The course will not be easy. But the problems, I’m convinced, will be solved. They will be solved faster, with a smaller cost and in an efficient way, if there is unity, agreement and prudence,” he said. source
Translation: Greece’s Prime Minister, George Papandreou, is making his exit.
We only have to wait for the prime minister’s announcements in the cabinet. Everything must be done within the day, otherwise tomorrow it will be hell.Greek politician Telemachos Hitiris • Discussing the expected plans for the Greek government, which just had a prime minister survive a no-confidence vote. The plan now will be to come up with an interim coalition government to replace Prime Minister George Papandreou, who could resign as soon as Sunday. It’s been a weird week in Greek politics, in case you haven’t been following along. source (via • follow)
Tomorrow’s cover today: our European cover suggests that the markets are not the euro’s only threat. Voters may be too.
Cover of the week. Brilliant execution.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Ignoring increasing calls to step down, Greece’s prime minister says he is seeking emergency talks with the opposition and warns that an early election would force Greece into leaving the euro currency.
Prime Minister George Papandreou made the comments in an emergency Cabinet meeting Thursday. His office released his speech to the ministers.
Papandreou sparked a crisis when he announced Monday he would put a European debt deal to a referendum in Greece. Two officials close to him say the referendum idea has now been scrapped, after the opposition indicated they backed the new bailout deal to cut Greece’s debts.
As we said on Twitter: Greece sounds really confused right now, like they need a Socrates to sort all this stuff out.
Wrote a thing.
Hat tip to this headline writer.
Congrats Tumblr!
Don’t screw this up Yahoo.
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Exclusive: How the Syrian Electronic Army hacked the...
Greek bailout referendum scrapped: Man, this is a confusing morning as far as the Greek debt crisis goes. More details as we get them.
Despite earlier reports to the contrary, Greek PM George Papandreou won’t be offering up his resignation, Greek officials say. This isn’t a confusing morning at all!
Oh. Well this could be big. “Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is expected to offer his resignation within the next half-hour, sources in Athens have told the BBC.”
Greek officials OK referendum plans: Like we said earlier (sarcastically, kinda), the stock market doesn’t like democracy. Democracy often goes against the best interests of investors. It’s messy. It works in ways that don’t always work in the best interests of the people who vote for it. But you gotta give people the opportunity to take advantage of the democratic system. No matter how much it hurts. That’s what Greece will go through very soon. Democracy. Don’t like it? Take an Alka-Seltzer and give yourself five minutes to get in a happy spot.
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