On Wednesday Greece was in the grips of an all day general strike, with at least five thousand people participating in protests in Athens, despite heavy rain. There were other protests in major cities across the country. No violent incidents were reported. In a rare turn of events, attributed to the bad weather, the country's two main unions, ADEDY and GSEE, did not march onto parliament.  

Civil servants, employees of state-owned companies and state-sanctioned social security funds, municipal workers, bank employees, judiciary staff, grade and high school teachers took part in the strike and the protests.   

Public hospitals functioned with minimal staff, as doctors, and medical and administrative personnel also took part in the strike. Courts were closed. Trolleybuses, trains and the Athens suburban railway did not affect journeys. Buses started running after 9 a.m. and will cease running after 9 p.m.  

The metro and the tram in Athens did not stop operating but Syntagma station was closed for several hours, after 9.30 a.m. Metro and tram journeys to Athens airport were cancelled. Ships stayed in port, as workers took part in the strike.

Because of a work stoppage by air traffic controllers between 12 noon and 3 p.m., flights were cancelled or delayed. Medical transport flights were not affected.

Media personnel participated in a work stoppage from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. ThePressProject International participated in the work stoppage. The main journalists’ union announced there would be an exception for those media outlets exclusively covering Wednesday's labor actions.  

ADEDY and GSEE, Greece's two biggest unions, held a gathering just off the centre of Athens, at the Pedion tou Areos park, at 11 a.m. But because of bad weather, the planned march to parliament was cancelled. The decision was criticized by the “Autonomous Intervention” labor faction, which is supported by Greece’s main opposition party SYRIZA. 

The Communist party-led union PAME, as is customary in Greece, held a separate gathering on Omonoia Square, central Athens, at 10.30 a.m. PAME protesters marched onto parliament and disbanded a little after 12 noon. They were later followed by supporters of minor unions, who had gathered in front of the National Archaeological Museum. This last group was joined by ADEDY and GSEE union members, who did not agree with their leaders' decision not to march to parliament. There were minor scuffles when protesters attempted to cross the metal barriers in front of parliament, but were prevented from doing so by the police. 

Protests were also held in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Patras, southern Greece and on the islands of Crete and Rhodes.

The head of GSEE, Yannis Panagopoulos, addressing protesters at Pedion tou Areos park, said that the government and the EU-ECB-IMF troika of Greece’s creditors “are telling us about financial gaps and deficits, whereas the major gap is in the welfare state and in society”. He said that the situation was “a theater of the absurd” and that the economic crisis has caused “a social and humanitarian crisis”.  

According to a GSEE statement, those participipating in Wednesday's general strike were demanding the invigoration of labor law and collective bargaining, an end to emergency real estate taxes, a ban on home foreclosures, decreases in taxation for workers and lower middle class professionals, more aid to the unemployed and a halt to privatizations.