Unionists representing truck owners yesterday agreed to end their three week strike.
They reached a compromise agreement with government agreeing to accept a grace period before new laws come in deregulating the nation’s road transport routes.
Drivers not taking part in the action claimed to have been shot at the north of Athens.
Divisions between the various unions was becoming more evident as the strike action was prolonged.
The government in Sofia has lodged an official complaint about alleged attacks on several Bulgarian drivers.
Members of truck owners’ unions met Wednesday night to decide whether to continue with their action or whether to halt it temporarily or even permanently.
Traders had pleaded with the unionists to at least call off the protest for a week to allow stores to be restocked with goods.
The prolonged strike, led to a heightening of tension between truckers who have joined the protest and those who are defying the unionist line.
In the most extreme case, it appears that a convoy of 25 trucks that was approaching Athens with a police escort was fired upon last week.
According to authorities, the trucks stopped in Malakasa on the Athens-Lamia national road, some 50 kilometres from the capital, after some drivers heard gunshots. An inspection of the vehicles revealed that two of the trucks contained bullet holes.
Nobody was injured but public prosecutor Eleni Raikou issued charges of attempted murder against persons unknown.
It also appears that a number of Bulgarian drivers, who were either crossing into Greece with their vehicles or had been driving trucks for Greek road freight companies that are defying the strike, have come under attack.
In a complaint from the Bulgarian Transport Ministry to the Greek government, it was claimed that drivers have been attacked at the ports of Piraeus and Igoumenitsa and in some parts of Athens.
A 41 year old Greek man was arrested in Kavala, northern Greece, last week on suspicion of being one of four or five local drivers who used their cars to chase a Bulgarian truck, which they then forced to stop so they could attack the driver. The suspect was charged with causing bodily harm and damaging private property.
The truck owners were on strike to protest the passing of a law liberalizing their sector and are demanding further concessions from the government, which has already made favourable tax and pension adjustments.
Sources: English Kathimerini and other media outlets
