Greek pensioners lead protest in Athens

The central Athens protest was organised by communist-backed trade unions and ended peacefully.

About 200 pensioners took part in the rally and pushed past police lines to enter the building and occupy the lobby.

Meanwhile Germany's finance minister renewed his pressure on his Greek counterpart to implement fully Athens's pledges to cut, cut and cut again.

Compliant Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras chose to ignore pressure from his country's trade unions and met Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble in Berlin.

During the talks Mr Stournaras reportedly reassured Mr Schaeuble of Greece's progress in complying with the conditions of its second bailout, in a meeting that the German finance ministry described as "friendly and co-operative."

The coalition government in Athens is drawing up a new programme of austerity measures worth €11.5 billion (£9.1bn) in cutbacks as it scrambles to satisfy its EU creditors.

Inspectors from the so-called troika - the European Union, IMF and European Central Bank - will review Greece's efforts this month.

The next loan instalment of €31bn (£24.5bn) hinges on a favourable report.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she wants to keep Greece in the euro but her government has continually insisted that Athens must carry through even more draconian budget cuts.

Ms Merkel has all but ignored Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's plea that Greece should have more time beyond the mid-2014 deadline to carry out cuts.

bill@peoples-press.com