(Reuters) -
Retail workers protested in Athens against a
relaxation of rules restricting the number of Sundays a year when shops can
open, a reform demanded by Greece 's
foreign lenders which aims to make its recession-hit economy more flexible.
After
opposition from small retailers and the Orthodox Church, the government has
backed away from allowing retailers to trade on any Sunday. Instead, the new
rule lets them operate on seven Sundays a year, up from two now.
About 500
shop employees, who fear they will be forced into more weekend work, marched
through the main shopping district on Sunday when the new rules came into
force. They chanted "No more austerity" and held banners reading
"Resist" and "Never on Sunday".
In a
symbolic protest, some blocked for a few minutes the entrance of stores on
Ermou, the main commercial street which was busy with shoppers looking for
autumn bargains. Similar protests took place in other Greek cities.
Small
retailers say that a liberalization would fail to boost sales and instead raise
their operating costs.
But the
government says more Sunday shopping would boost retail sales in a country
struggling to pull itself out of a six-year recession deepened by austerity
measures and record unemployment.
The
economy, which relies heavily on tourism, has shrunk by about a quarter since
the crisis broke out in 2009.
"In a
country which receives 18.5 million tourists (a year), which wants to become a
weekend destination, it is unthinkable for shops to stay shut on Sundays,"
the Deputy Minister of Development Notis Mitarachi told reporters.
(Reporting
by John Kolesidis and Phoebe Fronista; Writing by Renee Maltezou; editing by
David Stamp)
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