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2012-10-18 10:31:33
Greece is braced for a general strike in protest against the next round of spending cuts, required in return for another bailout instalment.
It will be the country's 20th national stoppage since the debt crisis erupted two years ago and comes as EU leaders meet in Brussels.
Taxi drivers, ferry workers, doctors, teachers and air traffic controllers are among those taking part.
Protests, which often turn violent, are also planned across the country.
Greece is currently preparing an 11.5bn euro ( 9.3bn; $15bn) austerity package to satisfy the "troika" of IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank lenders in return for its next 31.5bn euro tranche of aid.
The country is due to run out of money next month.
However, trade union leaders says they hope to show EU leaders that a new wave of wage and pension cuts will only worsen the plight of the Greek people.
Greece is in its fifth consecutive year of recession and more than a quarter of its workforce is unemployed.
"Just once, the government ought to reject the troika's absurd demands," said Yannis Panagopoulos, head of the GSEE private sector union.
"Agreeing to catastrophic measures means driving society to despair, and the consequences as well as the protests will then be indefinite," he added.
The BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens says cracks are already appearing within the coalition government as party leaders disagree over job losses and other austerity measures.
Anger has led to a loss of faith in the state, he says, with Greeks increasingly turning to political extremes such as the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.
Although the Greek government has vowed to stay the course, social unrest could yet prove explosive, our correspondent adds.