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Angry Greeks went crazy when German chancellor Angela Merkel comes to Athens / Greece News

A protestor holds a banner with the picture of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel that reads "wanted" and "war compensations" during a protest in Athens on Tuesday Oct. 9, 2012. German Chancellor Angela Merkel makes her first visit to Greece since the eurozone crisis began here three years ago. Her five-hour stop is seen by the government as a historic boost for the country's future in Europe's shared currency, but by protesters as a harbinger of more austerity and hardship. More than 7,000 police will be on hand, cordoning off parks and other sections of central Athens, to keep demonstrators away from the German leader who is due to arrive today in the Greek capital for talks with conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
A protestor holds a banner with the picture of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel that reads "wanted" and "war compensations" during a protest in Athens on Tuesday Oct. 9, 2012. German Chancellor Angela Merkel makes her first visit to Greece since the eurozone crisis began here three years ago. Her five-hour stop is seen by the government as a historic boost for the country's future in Europe's shared currency, but by protesters as a harbinger of more austerity and hardship. More than 7,000 police will be on hand, cordoning off parks and other sections of central Athens, to keep demonstrators away from the German leader who is due to arrive today in the Greek capital for talks with conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

Some 7,000 Greek police are on standby for Angela Merkel’s visit to Athens, where the German leader is blamed for cuts.

Merkel is the first German chancellor to visit Greece in decades and is making her first trip since the debt crisis began here three years ago.

Deemed highly symbolic, Merkel’s seven-hour stay signals the attempt by Europe’s most powerful lender to keep its poorest peer, Greece, within the 17-nation eurozone.

Merkel also has a desire to further mend relations with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who was among the Chancellor’s most outspoken critics at the start of the crisis.

“The stakes are enormous,” said George Pagoulatos, professor of European Politics and Economy at Athens University. “It is a seminal moment for Europe.”

Demonised for her tough talking, uncompromising stance and widely depicted as the poster girl of fiscal frugality, the German chancellor is set for a hostile reception.

More than 7,000 police officers, secret agents, snipers and commandos have been deployed across the capital. It is the biggest security drill since US President Bill Clinton visited Athens after sanctioning Nato-led bombing raids in Kosovo 13 years ago.

A flurry of protests are planned throughout the day. GSEE and ADEDY, the umbrella labour unions for private and public sector employees, have called for a three-hour strike across the greater Athens area from noon, bringing the country’s already anaemic economy to a fresh standstill.

Looming budget cuts have uncorked fresh social unrest, with the young, firebrand leader of Greece’s main opposition party, Syriza, also calling on workers to flood the streets of Athens to show Merkel “the real Greece”.

Late on Monday, police ordered a ban on protest gathering, but opposition parties have defied the decree, urging Greeks to gather at the German embassy

Since his election in June, Samaras has been struggling to agree with international lenders on a fresh batch of brutal budget cuts.

Failure to clinch a deal on the $11.5b euro cuts could tripwire a key meeting of European leaders next week, forcing them to block a $31b loan instalment to cash-strapped Greece, pushing it to bankruptcy within weeks.

That in turn could imperil the fate of the European currency, which Merkel has built her legacy on, proving invaluable in efforts to keep the eurozone in tact.

By signalling her support for Greece to stay in the troubled eurozone, pundits, politicians and skittish market investors expect the visit to nudge the budget talks to a compromise solution, paving the way for Europe’s disbursal of vital bailout funds.

Strapped for cash, Athens has said it has enough money to pay pensions and its expenses until the start of November.

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