NPR for Northern Colorado

Greek Protests Turn Violent; Prime Minister Reportedly Offers To Step Aside

A cloud of tear gas surrounded demonstrators in Athens earlier today (June 15, 2011).
Milos Bicanski

"Hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police in central Athens Wednesday," The Associated Press writes, "as a major anti-austerity rally degenerated into violence outside parliament, where the struggling government was to seek support for new cutbacks to avoid a disastrous default."

The English-language Athens News is live-blogging events and is hosting a live video stream of what's happening in central Athens. It just posted this update:

"State-run Net television is reporting that [Prime Minister] George Papandreou said he is prepared to accept the formation of a coalition government, even under the premiership of someone else."

Reuters says it's been told by a "government source" that Papandreou is "willing to step down only if [a] specific framework [and] targets" concerning a new government are agreed to.

The BBC puts things this way:

"Prime Minister George Papandreou faces the risk of a revolt in his Pasok party over the austerity package. He has proposed a unity government to pass the measures, state TV reports."

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.