by Our News Desk

ACTIVISTS piled into Trafalgar Square at the weekend to demonstrate their solidarity with Greeks holding a referendum on the EU’s crippling set of bailout conditions.

The Saturday afternoon rally — complete with its own street ballot in which participants were asked to vote Yes or No to austerity — denounced the way EU leaders insist on further pay cuts, privatisations and slashed spending for Greece, even though such policies have shrunk its economy by a quarter in the last five years and seen its debt to GDP ratio rise from 120 to 175 per cent.

Demonstrators chanted “ochi, ochi” — “no, no” — echoing Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s call for voters to vote to reject the terms the European Union, IMF and European Central Bank are trying to impose on the country.

While the bailout “offer” has already been withdrawn — meaning Greece is technically voting on a non-existent proposal — the result of the referendum is highly charged symbolically, with EU chiefs saying a No vote would see Greece leave the eurozone, something Mr Tsipras’s Syriza party remains desperate to avoid despite the damage the single currency has done  to the country.

Addressing the rally, Green Party leader Natalie Bennett slammed the “failed model” of austerity that was beggaring the whole continent.

“Where we are now is not sustainable,” Ms Bennett said.

“We need a new system that will invest in the future, invest in people.”