Mass protests in Portugal over austerity cuts -March 2,2013

 

Many thousands of demonstrators have held marches in more than 20 cities in Portugal to protest against
government-imposed austerity measures aimed at lifting the ailing country out of recession.

Tens of thousands of people filled a Lisbon boulevard during Saturday's protests and headed to the finance ministry carrying placards saying "Screw the troika, we want our lives back".

The troika is a reference to the European Commission(EC), the International Monetary Fund(IMF) and the European Central Bank(ECB), the lenders behind the country's financial bailout.

Many protesters were singing a 40-year-old song linked to a 1974 popular uprising known as the Carnation Revolution.

Portugal is expected to suffer a third straight year of recession in 2013, with a two percent contraction. The overall jobless rate has grown to a record 17.6 percent.