By Renee Maltezou
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek workers went on a 24-hour general strike on Thursday, shutting down public services and disrupting transport ahead of a large protest to test the government's resolve to implement tough austerity reforms.
Investors will be closely watching Thursday's march through Athens for signs of whether the momentum of anger against the government's unpopular tax hikes, public sector wage cuts and planned pension cuts is growing or beginning to recede.
The march on parliament, beginning around 10:30 a.m. British time, is the first major anti-austerity rally since three people died in a massive demonstration on May 5.
Workers started to gather for the rally and Athens was covered with banners with slogans like: "We've had enough!" and "No sacrifices for plutocracy!"
Schools were shut and hospitals operating on skeleton staff. Tourist sites such as Athens' ancient Acropolis were shut down, ships were kept in port or prevented from docking and domestic flights were disrupted.
A 50,000-strong anti-austerity march on May 5 turned violent when protesters lobbed petrol bombs at a bank in Athens killing three employees, in the worst unrest to hit Greece since riots paralysed Athens for weeks in December 2008.
Opinion polls show most Greeks agree some reforms are necessary to stem the country's debt crisis but they disagree with the specific measures agreed by the government and are angry because they believe the burden is being unfairly shouldered by the poor while the rich evade taxes.
"These measures are destroying everything we have fought for. Where are the measures against unemployment? We were not the ones who created this crisis," said unemployed Nikos Galiatsatos, 26, who planned to take part in the march.
Unions representing 2.5 million workers, half the country's workforce, want the government to withdraw the "pain for gain" austerity measures agreed by the government in return for a 110 billion-euro (94.8 billion pound) aid package from the EU and the IMF.
"Workers demand an immediate exit from this policy framework which will bring about a freefall in their living standards," the head of the public sector umbrella union ADEDY Spyros Papaspyros told Reuters.
SUMMER LULL
The repeated strikes and at times violent protests have affected the key tourism sector, with industry bodies saying there have been thousands of cancellations in Athens following the May 5 protest.
Three cruise ships with more than 7,000 passengers on board were prevented from docking in Athens' Piraeus port because of the strike and left for other destinations, coastguard officials said.
Disappointed tourists complained in front of the shut gates of Athens' most famous monument, the Acropolis. "It's just nonsense ... a strike has nothing to do with archaeological sites," said Swiss tourist Johan.
Air traffic controllers, members of ADEDY, said they would not strike on Thursday because they did not want to hurt tourism as Greece struggles with recession. But other union walkouts affected some domestic flights.
Political analysts say the government may face a period of relative calm as Greeks start fleeing the capital for the summer break next month, but come autumn, people could demand to see their sacrifices paying off or take to the streets.
(Additional reporting by George Georgiopoulos and Tatiana Fragou; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Jon Hemming)
