Strikes greet EU hatchetmen

Doctors began a 24-hour strike, council workers kicked off a 48-hour walkout, and members of the army, navy and airforce marched through the centre of Athens.

State teachers and their private-school colleagues walked out for three-hour periods to attend an Athens rally.

Universities were closed, while civil service union Adedy called its members out from noon.

Hundreds of local authority workers marched to the Finance Ministry in central Athens carrying banners declaring: "No to the financial collapse of local authorities" and "We will not pay for the crisis, we did not create it."

At the centre of the disputes are the final details of the economic punishment being drawn up in return for international bailout loans.

The coalition government is trying to agree another big cuts package worth £9.2 billion which will see pay and funding for services hacked back and it has been told it won't get the next £25bn instalment unless it does.

But Greek communist party KKE, which demands a default and withdrawal from the European Union, called for a "counter-attack against the EU, capital and the parties that serve them."

KKE-linked Pame trade union federation forced a two-hour delay to the latest cuts inspection yesterday when they formed a human chain in front of the Labour Ministry.

Supporters held a banner declaring: "Troika, IMF, ECB - Get out of here!"