About 4,000 pensioners on Thursday demonstrated outside the Greek Parliament while lawmakers were voting for the one-off bonuses Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has promised.
As a sarcastic response to the prime minister’s proposal, some protesters distributed napkins resembling banknotes. The bonus given to about 1.6 million low-income pensioners averages 380 euros each.
Pensioners from all parts of Greece gathered at 5:30 pm at the administrative building of the Athens University, marched to parliament and the protest rally stopped outside Maximos Mansion.
Pensioners told television reporters that even though the money is welcome, at the same time they consider it insulting that the government is giving them money that in essence took away from them manifold through recent painful pension cuts.
Furthermore, one pensioner said that Tsipras pretended he is giving again the Christmas bonus pension they were receiving in past years, when in fact this is a one-off payment that looks like a handout because it is less than half of a monthly payment.
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