Greek civil servants staged a 24-hour strike as ministers haggled with international lenders over the next attacks on the working class.

Thousands of protesters attended rallies in Athens and other cities, while civil servants pencilled in another 48-hour strike for next Wednesday and Thursday.

Cleaners made redundant by the finance ministry marched through central Athens holding up buckets and mops, while a group of school teachers chained themselves to railings in front of parliament.

The strike by public-sector unions hit services at tax offices, local government and elsewhere.

The government suggests that its negotiations with troika representatives - from the European Central Bank, EU Commission and International Monetary Fund - will be complete by Sunday, claiming that it is reluctant to impose more economic pain.

But the Greek political elite, supported by the EU, has hammered working people for the past six years, shrinking the economy by around a quarter while unemployment has soared to over 25 per cent.

While the troika loans to the Greek government are portrayed as a bailout of the economy, the biggest beneficiaries have been foreign, mainly German, banks.

Far from being hapless victims of international finance, the main parliamentary parties have chosen freely to slash public spending, increase taxes on working people and enact wide-ranging economic "reforms" designed to weaken job security and erode workplace rights.

Chemist shops are expected to close tomorrow and Monday in protest at plans to loosen retail restrictions and allow the sale of non-prescription drugs at supermarkets.