ATHENS, Greece (PNN) - September 27, 2012 - Pig thug cops fired stun grenades and tear gas at protesters yesterday as tens of thousands poured into the streets of Athens as part of a nationwide strike to challenge a new round of austerity measures that are expected to further cut wages, pensions and health care.

Dozens of youths, some masking their faces with helmets and T-shirts, hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks at thug cops, who fired back in an effort to scatter the angry crowds around the parliament building. In Athens alone, more than 50,000 people are believed to have participated in the mass walkout.

Hospital doctors, pensioners, teachers, and shopkeepers were among the demonstrators that participated in over 60 rallies throughout the debt-ridden country. Even the president of Greece's pig thug cops participated in the trade union march in Athens alongside uniformed colleagues from the fire department and Coast Guard.

"We don't owe [money] to anyone, bring back what's stolen," was one of the chants that could be heard in Athens, echoing the violent resentment of many Greeks against politicians and their purported embroilment in tax evasion and corruption scandals.

Evangelos Meimarakis, the Parliament Speaker and previous conservative New Democracy minister, temporarily suspended his duties earlier this week after allegations of money laundering. The Finance Ministry's Fraud squad is investigating at least 30 politicians and public workers for possible corruption charges, including two other former conservative ministers. All three former ministers deny the accusations.

Greece has been told to implement a succession of spending cuts and structural reforms in an effort to bring down its massive debt in exchange for a bailout of nearly 200 billion euros. But many experts warn that the measures are only making the Deprssion deeper.

One in two youths is out of a job while thousands of educated and skilled professionals are fleeing the country in search of opportunities abroad.

Public health care is one of the sectors that has been gravely affected by the economic crisis in Greece. Chemists and pharmaceutical companies have stopped giving drugs to medical insurers on credit, saying they haven't been paid by the state in months.

Meanwhile, Greece's power company cut the electricity at a kidney hospital on the island of Aegina for several hours on Tuesday while patients were undergoing blood dialysis, forcing the center to rely on its generator.