Greece strikes amid crunch bailout talks

The Greek government is caught between a rock and a hard place.

It's under ever-increasing pressure from its international lenders to bring in more painful economic reforms - which its citizens react to by striking.

SOUNDBITE: Yiannis Tsouvalakis, Greek resident, saying (Greek):

"They have impoverished us, they have completely impoverished us, we are a bubbling cauldron ready to explode"

SOUNDBITE: Kostas, Unemployed Athens resident, saying (Greek):

"They've turned the country upside down in the last two years, they've driven us crazy - in the end, we won't even be able to find coffee to drink. What can I say about these people, they aren't people, they are barbarians."

Greek party leaders continue their crunch talks over what new austerity they'll accept in order to secure a second, 130 billion euro bailout.

Deadlines for the deal have come and gone and European leaders seem to be losing patience with Athens.

They say Greece has to resolve its bailout talks and its deal with private bondholders and it must be approved by Greece's international lenders - the EU, ECB and IMF - by the middle of February.

This time the deadline must be met, or Athens will not receive the money it needs to avoid chaotic default in March.

That could send shockwaves through the global economy.

A source close to the negotiations has said they are making progress and Jane Foley from Rabobank thinks they will eventually reach a deal.

SOUNDBITE: Jane Foley, Senior Currency Strategist at Rabobank, saying (English):

"There isn't of course an ideal solution for the people or for the leaders, or really for anyone involved in this crisis. But I think our central scenario for now is that they probably will at the eleventh hour agree on this bailout talk and therefore avoid default on March 20th, of course that doesn't necessarily mean that Greece will avoid default in the future."

Some investors are certainly hopeful there will be a resolution soon. The Greek stock market was up over 2% on Tuesday - with bank shares doing well.

Greece also managed to sell 6-month government bonds at a slightly lower yield than in January.

But conversely other stock exchanges across Europe fell as those investors worried about the uncertainty in Greece.

Joanna Partridge, Reuters