Greek riot police carry out pre-dawn raid on striking workers at Athens subway's operations center

Jan. 25, 2013

Striking Athens metro employees hold a
meeting on January 24, 2013 in the Greek
capital. Riot police conducted a pre-dawn
raid Friday on the workers.

AFP - Greek riot police conducted a pre-dawn raid on striking workers at the operations centre of Athens' metro system, police said.

The raid on the centre, which strikers protesting austerity measures had occupied on Thursday, took place at around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) the next day, police told AFP.

Four people were temporarily detained but later released, they said.

The government has ordered a civil mobilisation to force the Athens metro staff to halt their strike, which has disrupted traffic in the Greek capital for over a week.

Unions reacted by calling a general transport standstill on Friday.

Friday's police crackdown was immediately criticised by a leftist party that is part of the ruling coalition.

Metro staff oppose government plans to reduce their pay and equate it with the broader public sector, part of reforms tied to the country's massive EU-IMF loan bailout.

The government said strikers had shown contempt for court rulings that had declared the metro strike illegal earlier this week.