Greek protesters target German diplomat

ATHENS: Public sector workers stormed a building where Greek and German officials were meeting in the northern city of Thessaloniki yesterday and pelted a German diplomat with water bottles in a protest over austerity measures.
Riot police used teargas and truncheons to break up a crowd of 250 city employees outside the building and formed a shield around German Consul Wolfgang Hoelscher-Obermaier as he entered.
Protesters held up mock gravestones and banners proclaiming “Fight until the end!”
They said they were furious at comments by German envoy Hans-Joachim Fuchtel, who told journalists on Wednesday that Greece could do more to reform its bloated local government sector, the head of the workers’ union said.
“Experts say that as far as local government is concerned the work carried out by 3,000 Greek employees can be done by 1,000 Germans,” Fuchtel said. He said yesterday that his remarks had been misinterpreted.
Fuchtel was appointed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel late last year to explore ways to boost grass-roots cooperation between the two countries, and has been lampooned as overbearing in Greek media.
Municipal employees have held several nationwide protests and strikes in recent weeks against the new wave of budget cuts, triggering severe disruptions in public transport and causing garbage to pile up across the capital.
Many Greeks, worn down by years of austerity, blame Merkel for forcing the painful cuts in exchange for the bailouts.
In Germany, media have long characterized the Mediterranean state’s 11 million people as lazy, corrupt and ungrateful.
Tens of thousands of Greeks protested against a visit by Merkel to Athens in October and some burned Nazi flags.