May Day protests in Greece turned violent, with rioters throwing Molotov cocktails and stones at police, who responded with tear gas. Leftists and who the press called "anarchists" smashed shop windows and set up burning barricades in Athens. Demonstrations have been going on for weeks against so-called "austerity measures" being enacted by the bankrupt-government to obtain foreign loans to ward off a financial collapse. Though Greece has been looking mainly toward its fellow European Union members for help, the International Monetary Fund has also been involved. IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been meeting with Greek and EU officials to set the conditions under which a multibillion euro loan can be made. On April 25, George Papaconstantinou, Finance Minister of Greece, laid out what his government was trying to do to reform the situation:If you compare the situation now with what happened four months ago, you will see that now we have a budget...(Read Full Post)