ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Judicial authorities postponed a trial of eight Greek terrorist suspects until later this month, as lawyers were participating in a 24-hour civil servants' strike.
A court in the maximum security Korydallos prison postponed Wednesday's trial of suspected Revolutionary Struggle members until Oct. 24.
The group first appeared in 2003 and is best known for firing a rocket-propelled grenade into the U.S. Embassy in Athens in 2007. They have also claimed responsibility for bombing the Athens Stock Exchange and for a gun attack that severely wounded a riot policeman in 2009.
Three of the eight suspects – Nikos Maziotis, Panayiota Roupa and Kostas Gournas – are being held in pre-trial detention and have admitted to being members of the group. They have claimed to be political prisoners.
On Wednesday, at least 16,000 protesters converged in the Greek capital, and a crowd of about 10,000 gathered in the northern city of Thessaloniki, as Greek civil servants walked off the job on a 24-hour strike Wednesday, paralyzing the public sector in a protest over ever-deeper austerity measures.
According to the BBC, Wednesday's 24-hour general strike included hospital employees, teachers, and police, among other workers. The BBC's Mark Lowen notes:
"All of these people are extremely angry at the austerity measures that the government is desperately trying to push through to qualify for the next installment of its international bailout, in order to stave off bankruptcy and avoid defaulting on its debts."
CNN reports that many of the protestors came out in force after the education ministry admitted that, due to budget contraints, it had not finished printing textbooks in time for the start of the school year:
"On Tuesday, 540 of the country's 11,000 high schools were shut down as a result. Wednesday's marchers included many of those students."
Clashes erupted in Athens as masked protestors hurled rocks at riot police outside the Greek parliament.
See photos of the protestors below:
Related
Before You Go
