Tsipras calls for 'no' vote in Greek referendum

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras called for the country to reject further austerity measures after five years of recession, growing unemployment

30 June 2015, 8:01am

1 min read

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras announced capital controls in a televised address as the country gears up for a referendum

Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has urged voters to soundly reject austerity proposals by the troubled country's lenders, as thousands of his supporters rallied in the capital, Athens.

"We ask you to reject it with all the might of your soul, with the greatest margin possible," he said on Monday.

"The greater the participation and the rejection of this deal, the greater the possibility will be to restart the negotiations to set a course of logic and sustainability," he said on state television.

The leftist prime minister also made clear that Greece was unable to make the $1.8billion payment due to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday, the same day its international bailout programme expires.

"[How] is it possible the creditors are waiting for the IMF payment while our banks are being suffocated?" he said in a late-evening interview on ERT television.

At least 20,000 defiant supporters of Tsipras' left-wing Syriza party packed the main avenue in front of parliament, rallying behind his call to reject the package and more austerity.

Tsipras called for Sunday's referendum over the weekend, arguing that demands for tougher austerity measures could not be accepted after more than five years of recession, while unemployment has more than doubled from 10.3 percent in 2009 to 25.6 percent this year and pensions and benefits were roughly halved between 2010 and 2014.