Scenes of chaos in Greece rattles Europe

Greece is truly in crisis. The army is on the streets and the whole country has ground to a halt.

Even the emblematic Acropolis is closed to visitors, as have virtually all public services, including the public transport industry, so vital to tourism and the revenue it brings.

The last thing Greece needs is to lose more money through national strikes, but some say there is no alternative.

Thanassis Mylonas is a school teacher: “All the upcoming measures and the current ones will be permanent. The people won’t have an alternative way to react except by mobilising strikes and rallies.”

“Government hanging by a string” says one newspaper headline. And the man at the end of that string is Prime Minister George Papandreou.

He met the Greek President on Wednesday. Papandreou is calling for national understanding of the responsibility not to default on the astronomical 340 billion euro debt.

Whatever his future, that financial catastrophe will not go away easily, and may well get worse before it gets better. The rest of Europe is watching nervously.

Copyright © 2012 euronews