The Irish Times, 4 November 2010
As the Irish Independent heralds the forthcoming December 7 budget as “the €6 billion bloodbath”, the Irish Times headlines with “Violent clashes at student protest”. Giving the lie to general opinion that the economically stricken nation has taken swingeing austerity measures with passive resignation, 25,000 students gathered in Dublin yesterday to protest college fee hikes. But the “largest student protest in a generation was marred by violent clashes”, the Dublin daily notes. The Union of Students in Ireland blamed left-wing groups for “destructive and anti-social violence” as 50 protestors forced their way into the Irish ministry of Finance.
The leader of Greece’s leftist alliance SYRIZA is the new bright hope of Greek politics. Steering a course between pragmatism and the rhetoric of class warfare, he has unsettled Berlin, and not just those who back Angela Merkel's austerity policies. 
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