Portuguese pensioners in anti-austerity march

A few hundreds pensioners took to the streets of Portugal on Saturday (December 10) against austerity measures imposed by an EU/IMF bailout.The pensioners in Lisbon chanted,The cost of living rises and the people cant stand it, as they carried banners reading, No to the troikas theft.Troika refers to a commission led by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, that have organised the financial rescues of Greece, Ireland and Portugal.Portugals parliament approved last month a tough 2012 budget which suspends holiday and year-end bonuses for pensioners and civil servants and raises many taxes further.The protesters say they dont accept the changes.Austerity measures under Portugals 78-billion-euro bailout agreed with the European Union and the IMF in May are expected to lead to the deepest recession since 1974.The government forecasts the economy will contract 1.6 percent this year and three percent in 2012.Portugal is the third country in the euro zone to seek a bailout after Greece and Ireland.Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, who came to power in June, has said the priority is to beat the debt crisis.To do so, Portugal is attempting to cut its budget deficit this year to 5.9 percent of gross domestic product from nearly 10 percent in 2010.