Live 31 May 2013:
Demonstrations against handling of Europe's debt crisis are taking place in Frankfurt, as eurozone jobless rate hit another record high of 12.2%
Live• Nearly one in four young people out of work
• Graphs: the unemployment crisis
• Thousands demonstrate outside ECB HQ
• Why Blockupy are protesting
• ECB: we're still working
• Graphs: the unemployment crisis
• Thousands demonstrate outside ECB HQ
• Why Blockupy are protesting
• ECB: we're still working
Graph: Jobless rates compared
And this graph compares the eurozone unemployment rate, now at a record high of 12.2%, to other major economies:
Updated
Graph: Jobless rates compared
This graph shows how Europe's youth unemployment levels have steadily risen since the crisis began, but were already high in some countries.
Photograph: Reuters/eurostat
- May 31, 2013 – 11:21 AM
Anti-Capitalist Protest: 'Blockupy' Surrounds ECB in Frankfurt
An estimated 2,500 supporters of the anti-capitalist group
"Blockupy" demonstrated in the German financial capital of Frankfurt on
Friday, blocking access to the European Central Bank in protest of
euro-crisis austerity policies.
Banging on drums and carrying signs that read slogans such as "Block
the ECB -- Fight Capitalism and Austerity" and "Humanity before Profit,"
the demonstrators cut off roads leading into the downtown financial
district.
"The business operations of the ECB
have been successfully hindered," a spokeswoman said, according to the
German news agency DPA. "We are making Europe-wide resistance to
devastating policies of poverty visible."
The European Blockupy movement, which formed after the Occupy Wall
Street movement in 2011, is critical of euro-zone leaders' approach to
the debt crisis. Forcing struggling countries to raise taxes and implement tough austerity measures has only served to deepen the Continent-wide recession, they allege.
Banks Prepared for Protest
As the protest got underway in the morning, riot police surrounded
the ECB building and took positions at other nearby financial
institutions, while a helicopter hovered overhead. A police spokesman
said he wouldn't necessarily characterize the event as a blockade,
however.
Banks in the area were reportedly able to prepare for the
demonstration, with many employees either taking the day off or working
from home. Some traders were also reportedly working from undisclosed
locations or provisional trading halls.
"So far, besides a few isolated incidents, everything has been
peaceful," a police spokesman told the DPA. Further protests were
planned for later in the day in downtown Frankfurt and at the airport,
Germany's busiest international hub.
The demonstrations are being held about one year after some 20,000
people took part in a similar event in the city, when police detained
hundreds of protesters. They also come ahead of Europe-wide protests
planned for June 1.
-- kla, with wires
Photo Gallery: Demonstrators Take On European Central Bank
Most of the protest was centered around the European Central
Bank. Demonstrators sought to cut off access to the ECB and other
financial institutions in the area
"The business operations of the ECB have been successfully hindered," a spokeswoman told the DPA. "We are making Europe-wide resistance to devastating policies of poverty visible."
More:
"The business operations of the ECB have been successfully hindered," a spokeswoman told the DPA. "We are making Europe-wide resistance to devastating policies of poverty visible."
More:
Eurozone crisis: three-and-a-half years of pain
Cyprus's
banks have re-opened after the island became the latest eurozone
country to agree a bailout. It all started back in October 2009, when
Greece's finance minister revealed a black hole in his country's budget
-
Interactive: It all started back in October 2009, when Greece's finance minister revealed a black hole in his country's budget
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