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After having signed the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Troika in May 2010, the government faced strong opposition from various social groups against the austerity policies it had decided to adopt. Opposition activities included frequent strikes, demonstrations and sit-ins by labour unions (Tsakatika/Eleftheriou 2013). Social protest was not spearheaded by the most negatively affected groups, such as the unemployed and the private sector employees, but by the self-employed, including professionals, and the relatively highly paid SOE employees. For example, in 2010-2014 owners of trucks and taxis frequently blocked traffic circulation in order to resist the government’s decision to provide new licences for trucks and taxis, thus opening what was a ‘closed shop’ occupation. Similarly, pharmacists closed their businesses to resist the government’s plan to grant licences for new pharmacies. Public sector unions frequently went on strike resisting any sort of change, not only salary decreases. For instance, in the winter of 2010-2011 public bus drivers went on repeated strikes, resisting the government’s decision to transfer excess personnel from the public bus company to other SOEs.