AlQa'dah 15, 1432, Oct 13, 2011, SPA -- Public transportation ground to a halt in Greece's capital once again Thursday as workers began a 48-hour strike against new austerity measures imposed by the government, AP reported. In a separate protest, state power company employees occupied a power company building to prevent electricity bills from being issued that include a new property tax that many Greeks say they cannot pay. The government has threated to cut off power to those who do not pay. "Electricity ... cannot be used as a means of blackmail against the unemployed, the poor, the wage-earner," the GENOP-DEH union said. "(We) will not allow our poor fellow citizens to be left without power." Greece is trying to ensure it qualifies for loans from a Euro 110 billion ($151 billion) international bailout that is the only thing preventing it from defaulting on its massive debts. The strikes and the takeover are the latest in a series of walkouts, sit-ins at government buildings and protests as unions lash out against the austerity measures the government is demanding. State television and radio journalists, lawyers, hospital doctors, teachers, customs and tax officers, seamen and municipal workers have also either walked off the job or are planning strikes in the coming days. Taxi drivers are expected to stay off the streets Friday during the second day of the strike, leaving private cars as the only transport in Athens. Another nationwide general strike is planned for Oct. 19.
