ATHENS, Greece — Angry unionists took to the streets Tuesday to protest harsh austerity measures imposed in an international bailout to save Greece from looming bankruptcy, while financial markets were far from assured that the $144 billion in promised loans could douse Europe’s smoldering sovereign-debt crisis.
About 4,000 striking teachers and students carried black flags in Athens to protest the cuts, and some scuffled with police. Earlier, about 100 Communist Party supporters broke through the gates of the Acropolis and hung banners in Greek and English reading “Peoples of Europe Rise Up,” as tourists watched.
The cutbacks were announced Sunday as a precondition for the loans from the International Monetary Fund and the other 15 EU countries using the euro. The aid, spread over three years, is Greece’s only hope of paying off $11 billion in debt that matures May 19.
On Tuesday, the interest- rate gap between Portuguese and benchmark German 10-year bonds rose 30 basis points, or 0.3 percentage points, meaning Lisbon would pay 5.4 percent interest to borrow on the markets. Greece would have to pay 9.5 percent, so much that it was effectively shut off from the bond market.
