A miner shouts slogans during a rally outside Development Ministry in Athens, on Thursday, April 16, 2015. About 4,000 workers at a northern Greek gold mine and their supporters staged a protest in Athens as they fear job losses because the governing Syriza party has fought the privately-owned mine on environmental and financial grounds. The issue is the most significant labor challenge the new radical left-led government has faced since its election in January. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)
April 16, 2015 - 3:49 AM
ATHENS, Greece - About 4,000 supporters of a Canadian-owned gold mine in northern Greece are demonstrating in Athens, in the most significant labour challenge the new radical left-led government has faced since its election in January.
Protesters fear job losses because the governing Syriza party has fought the mine on environmental and financial grounds.
The mine is owned by a subsidiary of Eldorado Gold Corp. (TSX:ELD), a Vancouver-based company listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges.
Eldorado said last month that it believed there was no legal basis for the ministry responsible for environment and development to revoke permission to complete construction of a key ore enrichment plant at the Skouries mine.
The government has accused the mining company of encouraging the protests.
Police closed major roads as miners marched on Thursday to the development ministry Thursday, where they shouted slogans and banged their hard hats on the ground.
— With a file from The Canadian Press
News from © The Associated Press, 2015