Red rubber glove rebellion

[Maik]

A group of middle-aged cleaners have become heroes to Greeks hit hard by austerity for refusing to go quietly when their jobs were cut. They have clashed with police and camped for months in central Athens - their defiance springing from decades of low-paid work and hard lives as mothers, wives, widows or divorcees.

You wouldn't know to look at it that the messy makeshift camp is the epicentre of a protest that's touched a nerve in Greece - and given the government more than a mild headache.

There's a pop-up tent with an inflatable mattress, some plastic chairs, a table, a fridge and a microwave. Posters of red rubber gloves making fists or victory signs adorn the concrete pillars. A banner made from a sheet is splashed with big red letters: "Sit-in protest by the cleaners of the finance ministry."

Nearly 600 women who cleaned the ministry's offices around the country were laid off 16 months ago in public-sector cuts demanded by Greece's creditors. They are middle-aged mothers and grandmothers with no previous experience of activism, but their dogged persistence has caught the imagination of many thousands here whose lives have been derailed by the economic crisis.

They have camped outside the ministry around the clock since May, clashed with the riot police, and sprayed red footprints on the pavements to protest against domestic violence. Their red rubber gloves and purple flags are instantly recognisable at every demonstration. They have become an emblem of the defiant discontent that now looks set to lift the young left-wing party, Syriza, to power later this month - and that could change Europe's future.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30811426