GREEK RIOT POLICE  stormed the Athens subway train depot early today to enforce a government emergency order forcing striking metro workers back to work in an escalating standoff over new austerity measures.

Barricaded

Dozens of strikers had barricaded themselves in the depot in western Athens yesterday evening, after the government issued a rare civil mobilisation order under which workers refusing to return to work risk dismissal, arrest and jail time.

Metro staff have been outraged by plans to scrap their existing contracts as part of a broader reform to public sector pay, with their union saying the measure would subject them to a roughly 25 percent pay cut.

Hammered by a financial crisis since late 2009, Greece has imposed repeated rounds of public sector salary and pension cuts in return for billions of euros in international rescue loans. The measures have led to a deep recession, now in its sixth year, and unemployment spiraling above 26 percent.

Police broke through the gates and removed dozens of strikers in the pre-dawn raid, while rows of riot police blocked off roads leading to the depot to prevent hundreds of strike supporters who had begun gathering from getting to the facility.

No violence was reported in the raid, with the workers not putting up resistance. The police blockade of the surrounding area continued into the morning rush-hour.

Backlash

The government’s decision to issue a civil mobilisation order led to a swift backlash, with all other public transport workers declaring immediate strikes that left commuters stranded and forced to walk or take taxis home through traffic-clogged streets.

No buses, trams or trolleys were expected to operate today. Authorities had distributed notifications of the civil mobilisation order to metro workers, who are obliged to respond once they receive the document but the procedure of getting the subway system up and running again was expected to take time.

Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told state-run NET television he expected the metro to be operating “as soon as possible,” estimating that trains would begin running again during the weekend.

Defending the government’s decision to invoke a rarely-used law to end the strike, Kedikoglou insisted the new austerity measures must be implemented.

We are a society, an economy, at a very difficult time,” he said. “People can’t ask for exceptions.

Unions and the radical left main opposition Syriza party accused the government of using dictatorial tactics.

Considered an extreme measure, use of the mobilisation law tends to spark an outcry but does tend to end a strike. It has been used in the past to end a protracted strike by garbage collectors, with the government at the time citing public health concerns, and to end a fuel truck strike that had caused major gasoline shortages.

Late on Thursday, Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras ruled out any softening of the pay reform.

The strike has been met with a mixture of understanding and exasperation from commuters, many of whom are in a similar situation and are suffering cuts to their own income. Strikes in general are so widespread and frequent in Greece that they have become part of everyday life.

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