It looks like putting the left wing Syriza Party in control of Greece hasn’t changed much. The country is still broke, still struggling to make cuts and there is still unrest. In fact, recent pension cuts nearly led to rioting.

The Telegraph UK reports:

Greek police pepper spray protesting pensioners

Greek police on Monday fired pepper spray at pensioners protesting against cuts in their state income.

Thousands of pensioners responded to a protest call by the communist opposition and tensions increased as their protest march approached the prime minister’s residence.

One group of protesters attempted to breach the cordon of riot police guarding the building, while others attempted to overturn a police car, according to an AFP correspondent.

Police responded with a limited amount of pepper spray, but protesters returned before being dispersed.

Nikos Toska, minister for citizens’ protection, took responsibility for the use of the gas irritant and announced a ban on “all use of tear gas on protests by pensioners and workers”.

The leftist Syriza party of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, when it was in opposition, regularly decried the use of tear gas on protesters.

Its use was widespread during anti-austerity protests at the beginning of the decade, to the point of affecting whole neighbourhoods of the Greek capital.

The elderly protesters on Monday shouted slogans such as “We can’t live on 400 euros ($450)” and “Let the rich pay for the crisis”.