National shutdown comes as parliament debates austerity reforms to help crisis-hit country secure bailout loans.
A 48-hour general strike is under way in Greece as the country's parliament debates a new round of austerity reforms that will help the government secure loans it says are necessary to stave off the threat of bankruptcy.
The strike, which began on Tuesday, is set to disrupt or halt most public services as Greek parliamentarians debate an austerity package which they must pass for the country to access the latest installment in a series of international bailout payments.
The strike has been called by unions who say the proposed €28bn ($40bn) cuts would slap taxes on minimum wage earners and other struggling Greeks, already hurting from previous rounds of cuts.
"These measures are a massacre for workers' rights. It will truly be hell for the working man," said Thanassis Pafilis, a lawmaker with the Greek Communist Party that will lead one of Tuesday's main rallies.
"The strike must bring everything to a standstill."
Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips, reporting from the capital, Athens, said there had been disruption at the nearby port of Piraeus, a key route for tourists and Greeks travelling to the country's many islands.
"Tourism has been hit very badly... This, in fact, is the first 48-hour general strike that Greece has experienced since the end of military rule in the mid-1970s," he said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/06/20116285656386285.html
