Not the reception expected?

WHAT did the German Chancellor expect when she deemed it right to visit Greece this week. If she expected flag waving - he got it, but it was Nazi flags that were waved. If she expected a warm reception she got it  from more than 50,000 in Athens, chanting slogans against her.

  There were more than 7,000 police on the streets and more in reserve, when, despite a ban of publish gatherings the Greeks turned out, mainly without violence, to pent their anger over the draconian measure that have been forced upon them.

  Police, who mounted a large security operation, stopped and searched 217 people while 24 were arrested and charged for a range of offenses. Some of those detained were stopped ahead of the rally in preventive checks while others are believed to have been involved in attacks on police who warded off youths hurling stones by firing tear gas. A couple of the detainees are believed to be linked to urban guerrilla groups Revolutionary Struggle and Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire, Kathimerini understands. Lawyers of suspected members of Revolutionary Struggle, currently on trial at Korydallos high-security prison, reportedly complained that some of their witnesses could not make it to court as they were detained by police in central Athens. Conspiracy claimed responsibility for parcel bombs sent to several EU leaders, including Angela Merkel, in 2010.

  The Greek prime minister got endorsements from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European finance chiefs as well as signals that the country’s next aid payment was in the offing.

  International inspectors known as the troika are due back in Athens this week after a pause that provided Samaras’s three- party with backing to continue efforts to carve out 13.5 billion euros ($17.4 billion) of new budget cuts.

Not the images we want to see

THE leaders of Greece's power-sharing government on have agreed on most of the cost-cutting measures for the next two years, in line with demands set by the troika of foreign lenders, the chief of a junior coalition member said.

  “We reached an agreement on the main points. There are still some outstanding issues. We are going to seek for a four-year extension [of the Greek fiscal adjustment program], said Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis after the meeting. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras of conservative New Democracy party was also meeting with PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos.

  Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, who was present at the meeting of the three leaders, described the agreement as a “basis for strong negotiation” with the country's creditors.

  Stournaras said the proposed measures will first have to be approved by the troika envoys, expected in Athens during the weekend, before they are voted upon in Parliament. The cuts are essential if Greece is to continue receiving funds from international emergency loans.

  The meeting came a day after tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital in protest at the anticipated cuts.  It was not clear whether a new leaders' meeting will take place.

Tens of thousands of protestors shouting "enough is enough" took part in trade union rallies and marches organised in central Athens on Wednesday, as part of a 24-hour nationwide strike in protest against a new package of austerity measures.

  The main protest was called by the General Confederation of Greek Labour (GSEE) and the civil servants' union federation ADEDY. Pame, the Communist Party-backed trade union, organised its own protest.

  Estimates of the size of protest marches varied greatly between organisers and police, with the former claiming over 100,000 took part and the latter estimating participation to have been in the region of 50,000.

  The march went as far as Syntagma Square, where a delegation from the trade unions presented a resolution outlining the demands of Wednesday's nationwide general strike to parliament. There were more clashes with police by a small group, who threw petrol bombs at the police, and these were the images shown on tv around the world. While the majority of the rally was peaceful, and one can understand their reasons for the really, the clashes were mainly at the end of the day, but nonetheless  pictures that nobody wants to see.