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Protests disrupt tourist visits to Athens’ Acropolis

16 October 2010 02:44 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Visitors wandered through Greece’s most iconic attraction for free Friday, after striking workers ended a three-day blockade that had forced tourists to take photos of tear gas-wielding riot police instead of 2,500-year-old marble temples, APA reports quoting â€œThe USA Todayâ€.
According to the Associated Press, dozens of protesting ministry workers clamoring for up to two years’ back pay remained outside the gates of Athens’ Acropolis after it reopened earlier today, but made no move to block visitors. Earlier, the AP said, a foreign tourist who tried to push past a picket line and riot police was met with shouts of "We are on strike, don’t go in," from protesters, and police escorted her away.
Authorities had pledged to keep the site open, and accused strikers of showing disrespect for the monument, which attracted more than 1 million visitors last year. Greece is in the midst of a debt crisis after barely avoiding bankruptcy in May, and tourism - down 7 to 8 percent this year - is a key source of revenue. Earlier union protests and anti-austerity strikes have shut the country’s archaeological sites and left tourists stranded at ports.
"Nobody has the right to hold our ancient monuments captive," Prime Minister George Papandreou told Parliament Friday. "Is this the image of our country we want to promote?"