Greek firefighters stage angry protest

Greek firefighters on Wednesday protested in central Athens against the decision not to renew their contracts.

The country’s fire service union said some 2,000 members of staff were affected.

Firefighter Nikolaos Krinos said he had not been paid since June, which means he is unable to collect unemployment.

“I’ve been with the service for seven years. What is going on? Why won’t they hire us?” he asked.

With tax revenues on the slide, Greece is under pressure to trim its public payroll as part of an EU-IMF rescue deal.

Officials have said the state could run out of cash to pay pensions and salaries by end of June.

The country is currently gripped by political paralysis after an inconclusive election earlier this month. A new vote is scheduled for June 17th.

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