Thousands rally for Greek anti-austerity party promising end to ‘humiliation’

Tens of thousands gathered in Athens in support of Syriza, a leftist party demanding an end to austerity cuts and a debt write-off from the EU. Recent polls indicate it’s the most likely winner in Sunday’s upcoming elections.

The center of Athens was swarming with people carrying red and white Syriza flags on Thursday evening in what’s been described as the party’s biggest rally ever.
Greece is having a snap parliamentary election on Sunday. It was triggered by the parliament’s failure in December to elect a president. 

"On Monday, national humiliation will be over,” said the party’s leader, Alexis Tsipras, according to Reuters. “We will finish with orders from abroad. We are asking for a first chance for Syriza. It might be the last chance for Greece."  

The promise of an end to austerity has struck a sensitive chord with Greeks wearied by cuts.
"We want change because the mainstream parties have destroyed the country,” a rally participant, Katerina Pareskeva, 54, told the DPA news agency. “Our only hope at the moment is Syriza." 

Four pollsters on Thursday said Syriza was around 5 points ahead of its closest competitor, the ruling conservative New Democracy party.
"What have five years of sacrifice got us? In a word: Nothing," Tsipras wrote in an article on Thursday, AP reported. "All we got is despair: 1.3 million unemployed, 3 million without health insurance, and pensioners who cannot afford to buy medicine."......................http://rt.com/news/225459-syriza-rally-election-austerity/
23/1/15
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