Greek police, protesters scuffle at shut public broadcaster

Scuffles broke out on Saturday between Greek riot police and opposition lawmakers protesting the closure of former public broadcaster ERT ahead of a government no-confidence vote, a police source said. Police guarding the shut ERT headquarters in a northern Athens suburb pushed back lawmakers from the left-wing opposition Syriza party and the smaller Independent Greeks grouping as they tried to enter the building. The confrontation came as parliament debated a no-confidence motion that Syriza introduced after a police raid on Thursday cleared the ERT site of disgruntled employees who had been occupying it since the broadcaster's shock closure in June. Parliament is expected to vote on the motion late Sunday. ERT's closure in June sparked an international outcry and nearly brought down the coalition government in debt-laden Greece, which has been implementing painful public-sector restructuring in return for international bailout loans. The government closed the broadcaster as part of public service restructuring, saying that the former broadcaster was hopelessly bloated and ineffective, with 2,600 employees and annual costs of 300 million euros ($400 million). Authorities intend to use the headquarters to house a new public broadcaster, named Nerit, due to start transmitting in 2014 after Greece takes over the rotating six-month EU presidency in January.