#Microsoft's Greek offices attacked by armed arsonists

[3026 Dead]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/27/microsoft-greek-office-
attack-arsonists


Microsoft's Greek offices attacked by armed arsonists

• Software firm's Athens headquarters badly damaged
• Italian statisticians stage sit-in pay protest
• Greek restaurant workers hold 24-hour strike



Julia Kollewe
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 27 June 2012 07.19 EDT

Microsoft's Greek headquarters were attacked by arsonists and government
statisticians in Italy staged a sit-in pay protest as anti-austerity
demonstrations continued to sweep the eurozone.

Microsoft's Athens offices were seriously damaged after armed arsonists
drove a stolen truck through the entrance in the early hours of Wednesday
morning, and then set fire to it. The office, where more than 100 people
work, will be shut for the day.

"It was very lucky that no personnel were in the building at the time,"
said a police source. "We've had drive-by attacks but nothing like this.
In style it is unprecedented."

The ground floor of the US software giant's office suffered heavy damage,
which the fire brigade estimated about €60,000.

Arson attacks against banks, foreign firms and local politicians have
become more frequent in Greece in recent years amid public anger against
the government's harsh austerity policies. Police said it was too early
to say who was behind the latest attack. In February, a small bomb was
left on an empty subway train in Athens, which a far-left group fighting
the austerity measures claimed responsibility for.

In Italy, the protest by statisticians delayed the release of Italian
business morale data, as some 42 statisticians, researchers and computer
technicians from ISTAT, Italy's national statistics office, stormed the
room where the data are normally handed out, and held a labour union
meeting.

Francesca Taratamella, who works in the national accounting department,
said staff were protesting against the statistics office's failure to
award promotions to those who were entitled to them. She said she and her
colleagues had been given extra work and responsibilities without any
promotion or increase in wages.

"More in general, we are here to lament the freeze on new hires, on
salary increases and on promotions … in the public sector," she told
Market News International.

Italian prime minister Mario Monti's popularity has waned as he is
implements painful austerity measures.

The staff protest at ISTAT meant the business confidence figures for June
were published half an hour later than scheduled. When they were finally
released, they showed a surprise improvement in morale in June, with the
index rising to 88.9 from 86.6 in May.

Back in Greece, restaurant workers called a 24-hour strike for Wednesday
to protest against wage cuts and other austerity measures imposed by the
government. The strike comes in one of the key months for tourism, the
country's biggest industry.

"Employers are blatantly using the avalanche of measures, which are
crushing the human and social rights of workers, to violently demand
submission to their demands," the Panhellenic Federation of Catering and
Tourist Industry Employees said on its website.

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