Political suicide on Athens Syntagma Square

because of financial depts.He shouted before his death << I do not want to leave my children in debt >>.Do not commit suicide! -Rather Uprise against the regime!The choice of Syntagma,where the battles against the waves of austerity measures are taking place,show the relationship of the suicide..

 to the humanitarian catastrophe in Greece..

A Greek man took his life in Athens' central Syntagma Square early Wednesday,shooting himself with a handgun just several hundred meters from the entrance to the Greek parliament building in apparent despair over his financial debts.

His identity has not been released pending notice to next of kin and police are now investigating if the man has left behind any suicide note.

But according to eyewitness accounts, the man shouted "so I won't leave debts for my children" before killing himself.

"This was a symbolic suicide. If it hadn't happened here, in the square, in front of parliament, no one would notice," said one bystander, who declined to give his name but who heard the shots from across the square.

Greece is now in its fifth year of a grinding economic recession made worse by successive waves of austerity measures the country has taken to meet the demands of its international creditors from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Those various austerity measures have led to steep cuts, in some cases more than 25%, in retiree pensions and other benefits. At the same time many Greeks are being squeezed by declining wages and higher taxes on everything from property to petrol.

The social impact of the economic crisis has become increasingly apparent on the streets of Athens and other cities, while suicide rates have jumped.

stopcartel Newsdesk