Despite ensuing riots and demonstrations after the police shooting of a teenage boy last week, workers in Athens, Greece held a general strike Wednesday. The strike effectively halted transportation, including airline, railway, metro, and bus travel. The striking workers did cancel planned demonstrations however, in light of the continuing protests and demonstrations plaguing Athens since the shooting. Labor's original purpose was to demand higher pay and fewer government cutbacks, though the widespread outrage generated by the teenage boy's death seems to have overshadowed these causes.
See "Strikes Cripple a Riot-Shaken Greece", Rachel Donadio and Anthee Carassava, The New York Times, December 9, 2008