Athens, May 17 (RHC)-- Hundreds of Greeks have staged a rally in Athens to protest the government’s strict austerity measures, including proposed steep cuts in public spending and an increase in taxes.  The protesters converged on Syntagma Square in downtown Athens, waving the Greek national flag and carrying banners reading “Enough” and “Enough,Oout of the Euro” in Greek.

Greeks are protesting the proposed new set of laws aimed at raising social security contributions, increasing income taxes for high earners, and introducing a new national pension.

The laws are being introduced under the terms of an international multi-billion-euro bailout the government signed up to last year.  The cash-strapped government in Athens hopes the legislation would help persuade international creditors to approve the release of bailout cash.

Athens is now reportedly at loggerheads with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- one of its lenders -- over a demand to make extra state savings.  The creditors have already granted Greece two bailout loans — one in 2010 and the other in 2012, worth a total of 240 billion euros (USD 272 billion).