Public transport halted in strike to show support for ERT workers, analyst
(13 Jun 2013) SHOTLIST 1. Mid of stranded commuters waiting by empty tram stop 2. Close of commuter talking on mobile phone 3. Wide of empty tram lines and congested road 4. Close of closed shop shutters in downtown Athens 5. Wide of parliament with increased car traffic in front because of 24 hour tram and metro strike 6. Close of commuter looking at drawn shutters at entrance of Syntagma Square metro station 7. Wide of the Syntagma Square metro station 8. People in square 9. People in a cafe 10. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Angelos (last name not given), pensioner who says he does not receive his pension: "This happened because private TV was getting footage from public TV in a shady way. Now they decided to shut down ERT for financial reasons and because of the Troika, and on the other hand, they want to prop up the private interests." 11. Taxis in the road 12. Stranded passenger at tram station 13. Two men looking at newspaper headlines 14. Close of newspaper headline (Greek) "The inside story: how an election was thwarted." 15. Mid of two newspapers ( Greek), paper on the left side: "Samaras is throwing the gauntlet", paper on the right "Samaras is cutting off his crutches." 16. Wide of independent political analyst Vangelis Agapitos at his office 17. Close of Agapitos' hands with newspaper 18 . SOUNDBITE (English) Vangelis Agapitos, Independent Political Analyst: "Either they will overcome the possible political crisis that is to be expected, due to the powerful vested interests that will pull all their effort to block such a move, or, and if thus so it will move forward, or it (the government) will be sacked back to the old ways of the past, which will be a disaster for Greece." 19. Wide of Agapitos arranging papers in his office STORYLINE Public transport came to a halt in Athens on Thursday as workers' unions staged a 24-hour strike to show solidarity with employees of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT). The three-party government pulled the state-run TV and radio off the air late on Tuesday, axing all 2,656 jobs, as part of its cost-cutting drive demanded by international creditors. A partial closure of the Athens metro and a full halt in bus and tram services meant that thousands of commuters remained stranded. Thursday's protest called by Greece's two largest unions disrupted public transport and left state hospitals running on a skeleton staff, while flights are to be grounded between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. local time, (1200-1400GMT). The closure of state-run TV and radio appears to have divided the fragile coalition government further. Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has insisted the broadcaster will remain closed before a new public broadcaster opens at the end of the summer. But his centre-left coalition partners have submitted legislation to parliament to cancel ERT's closure. Independent political analyst Vangelis Agapitos argued the government is now at a crossroads. "Either they will overcome the possible political crisis that is to be expected, or it (the government) will be sacked back to the old ways of the past, which will be a disaster for Greece," Agapitos said. The crisis was the worst in Samaras' year-old government, which is credited rescuing Greece's euro membership by imposing harsh austerity and reform measures demanded by the country's international creditors. But now the coalition's centre-left partners are threatening to block the ERT closure, the government faces the risk of breaking up and calling an early general election - a process that could disrupt the austerity process and threaten future bailout payments. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
