Greek anti-crisis protesters urge new mobilisation

ATHENS — Protesters who have occupied Greece's main square for over two weeks, drawing thousands to their fight against austerity, called for a new mobilisation on Sunday ahead of new planned cuts."Our voice must be heard loudly everywhere," the loosely-knit protest group, speaking on behalf of the "Syntagma Square popular assembly", said in a statement mailed to media, calling for a broader European "uprising"."Entire peoples cannot be sacrificed to avoid compromising creditors. This is not our debt and we are not paying it," the group said, referring to the Greek sovereign debt that has exploded to over 350 billion euros ($502 billion).The non-political, non-ideological demonstrations that began in Greece on May 25 are modelled on a similar mobilisation in Spain led by a group calling themselves "The Indignants".Last week, over 50,000 Greeks according to police responded to a similar call to assemble in Athens and another 3,000 gathered in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city.News reports placed the Athens turnout at around 100,000 people.On a Facebook page dedicated to the initiative, numerous postings sought to draw people to Syntagma, or Constitution, Square for a third day Sunday."Everybody get out of your armchairs. We want 11 million citizens outside parliament!" read one posting.Protest organisers had to contend with a three-day weekend that will likely have drawn many Greeks to beaches and the countryside.The unprecedented, apparently leaderless gatherings have baffled attempts at categorisation, though sociologists have pointed to a growing political apathy evident at past elections.Some 40 percent of voters abstained in last November's municipal ballot, up from 30 percent in the last national elections in 2009."So far it is a spontaneous and dynamic social mobilisation," Vassiliki Georgiadou, a political scientist at Athens' Panteio University, wrote in To Vima daily on Sunday."Whether it becomes an actual social movement depends on its duration, the emergence of leaders and the expressi

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