Hundreds of Portuguese protest against further salary cuts

Some 1,000 Portuguese protested outside the country's parliament building in capital Lisbon on Friday against further salary cuts.
Representatives of the country's largest trade union CGTP descended from S.pedro de Alcantara Park to the parliament building.
The cuts were proposed by the government of former Prime Minister Jose Socrates and were being voted in parliament on Friday.
The Portuguese parliament approved the measure, which involved cuts of 3.5 percent and 10 percent for salaries above 1,500 euros. The solidarity contribution of 2 percent will affect pensioners who receive between 1,000 and 2,000 euros.
"Like thousands of my colleagues, my salary will be cut by 40 percent in February," said Eurides Rocha, 46, a teacher, who was holding a blue and white flag from a national teacher's syndicate. "I am worried about how the government is destroying our country."
Sharp tax increases were part of the deal when Portugal signed a 78-billion-euro bailout program in May 2011 with the troika of its international lenders comprising the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank as it was unable to pay its debts.
The Portuguese government proposed cuts of 2.5 percent and 10 percent in the state budget for 2014 for public wages above 675 euros.
Earlier this year the constitutional court ruled several measures in the 2014 budget illegal, which involved salary and pension cuts and cuts in benefits for the unemployed.
Debt-ridden Portugal exited from the 78-billion-euro bailout program with the troika in May this year, the government has to stick to the harsh austerity policies in order to meet the deficit reduction targets set by the troika