Yahoo – AFP,
Marina Rafenberg, 26 Jan 2015
Syriza
leader Alexis Tsipras greets supporters following victory in the
election in
Athens on January 25, 2015 (AFP Photo/Louisa Gouliamaki)
|
Athens
(AFP) - Supporters of Greek anti-austerity party Syriza wildly cheered Sunday's
election victory, confident that the first-ever victory by a leftist party in
Greece would help turn back austerity in Europe.
Red and
white flags emblazoned with Syriza's tricolour motif waved outside the main
party platform in central Athens, where hundreds of supporters gathered as
election results poured in.
Syriza
leader Alexis Tsipras greets
supporters following victory in the
election in
Athens on January 25, 2015
(AFP Photo/Louisa Gouliamaki)
|
"The
time of the Left has come," the crowd chanted.
"It's
a new team and its policy programme has us smiling," said Eleni
Papadopoulou, a 43-year-old private sector employee.
"We
had a very difficult time during the crisis. I hope this will change," she
told AFP.
There was
also jubilation in Athamanio, a mountain village in the northwestern region of
Epirus, where Tsipras' paternal ancestors hail from, with locals dancing at the
village coffee shop.
"Alexis,
our brave lad, bring on the sunshine," the village residents sang as one
local man played a lute.
Syriza
wants to renegotiate the terms of Greece's 240-billion-euro ($269 billion)
bailout deal with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund which
the party says is stifling any chance Greece has of economic recovery.
A placard
at the Syriza victory
celebrations reads 'Good night, Mrs
Merkel' (AFP
Photo/Aris Messinis)
|
"Troika,
keep calm and go to hell," read a banner at the Syriza platform, referring
to the three creditors -- the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF.
'New kind
of politics'
The
leftists also intend to raise the minimum salary by nearly 30 percent to 751
euros, give an extra monthly stipend to poor pensioners and guarantee access to
free medical care.
"History
is being written after 60 years in Greece and Europe," said Antonis
Balousis, a 54-year-old butcher.
"We
are going to prove that a different kind of politics is possible in
Europe," he said.
Syriza's
victory is a welcome boost for anti-austerity parties across Europe, and
leftist activists from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Argentina were in
Athens to cherish the moment.
Anti-austerity
Syriza party supporters
celebrate as leader Alexis Tsipras
speaks folllowing
victory in the election,
in Athens on January 25, 2015 (AFP
Photo/Angelos
Tzortzinis)
|
"The
left in Italy is scattered and has been unable to find a leader like Alexis
Tsipras. Let us hope this will provide an impetus," she said.
Fellow
Italian Antonio Alicino noted that Syriza would need help to change the
established mentality in Europe.
"Alone,
they will be too isolated to succeed. We must show that a large section of
European peoples stand behind them," he said.
Among the
foreign delegation stood Alejandro Bordart, a lawmaker from the Socialist
Workers' Party of Argentina, a country sharing Greece's debt woes.
"I
want to see if an alternative policy is possible, as Argentina has been
grappling with the debt question for 30 years," he said.
Syriza
leader Alexis Tsipras raises his fist as he greets
supporters following victory
in the election in Athens on
January 25, 2015 (AFP Photo/Aris Messinis)
|
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