Greek banks have reopened after weeks of closure. The patient and orderly way customers queued outside to use ATMs during the big shut down was an impressive sight, especially for those people who are fond of considering Greek people as somehow incapable of doing things right.
But nothing is harmonious. The queues outside the job centers are as long as ever, while many of the shops that shut down at the same time as the banks, still haven’t reopened. Anti-austerity and anti-governmental protests have started to take place for the first time since Syriza came to power. Dozens were arrested as the Greek Parliament voted to accept a new bailout deal from Europe, based on the very terms that were rejected just days earlier in a national referendum. Fresh riots took place as Parliament passed a law that allows the confiscation of people’s homes.
