A general strike has been called across Greeece as protests against planned spending cuts and tax rises continue.

针对希腊的削减开支以及增加税收政策，希腊民众将举行一场全国范围的大罢工。

Public anger in Greece is growing over government austerity measures

Trains, planes and ferries are at a standstill（处于停顿状态） as transport workers join public sector¹ workers who began their own 48-hour strike on Tuesday.

Austerity measures（紧急措施） planned in return for a 110bn euro (£95bn) international rescue package for the debt-struck economy have sparked widespread anger.

The Greek parliament is to vote on the measures by the end of the week.

The measures include wage freezes, pension cuts and tax rises. They aim to achieve fresh budget cuts of 30bn euros over three years, with the goal of cutting Greece's public deficit² to less than 3% of GDP by 2014. It currently stands at 13.6%.

Meanwhile, the German parliament is about to start considering the bail-out plan for Greece.

Chancellor³ Angela Merkel will defend her government's decision to take part in the deal agreed by European finance ministers, which requires Germany to pay the largest proportion of the loans to be made available to Greece.

Acropolis raid

Flights in and out of Greece stopped at midnight, while trains and ferries remained were not running early on Wednesday.

Schools, hospitals, and many offices are expected to remain shut.

A mass rally is planned in central Athens before protest marches（边界地区） pass through the city, with the parliament expected to be again be a focus of attention.

Several thousand teachers and students marched to parliament on Tuesday, carrying black flags and banners.

The demonstration⁴ was largely peaceful. But some scuffles（混战，扭打） broke out near the parliament building, with demonstrators throwing stones at riot police（防暴警察） , who responded with pepper spray（胡椒喷雾剂） .

Dozens of Communist protesters broke into the ancient Acropolis at dawn, draping giant banners on the Parthenon temple reading: "Peoples of Europe Rise Up."

In other signs of discontent, on Monday a group of teachers forced their way into the main state broadcaster's studios in Athens to protest about education cuts.

Union leaders say the cuts target low-income Greeks.

"There are other things the [government] can do, before taking money from a pensioner⁵（领养老金者） who earns 500 euros (£430) a month," Spyros Papaspyros, leader of the public servants' union ADEDY, told Greek private television. The EU has agreed to provide 80bn euros (£69bn) in funding, while the rest will come from the International Monetary⁶ Fund (IMF).

The deal is designed to prevent Greece from defaulting on its massive debt.

However, it must first be approved by some parliaments in the 15 other eurozone countries.

In return for the loans, Greece will make major austerity（朴素，紧缩） cuts which Prime Minister George Papandreou said involved "great sacrifices".