VIDEO Chaos in Greece: Pensioners fighting in front of banks

Banks in Greece finally opened this morning, but only for pensioners. It was decided that banks would open their doors to allow pensioners to cash their pensions, reports the Patria news agency.

In front of bank branches this morning, hundreds, and in some places thousands, of elderly people were pushing to withdraw their pensions, but a maximum of 120 euros. The scenes arriving from Greece are chaotic; pushing dominates the queues in front of banks, and in some places fights have broken out.

ATMs were also opened, but pensioners could withdraw a maximum of 60 euros from them. However, that did not last long. The ATMs quickly ran out of cash, and the 10 and 20 euro notes disappeared first. 

Some began camping in front of banks as early as last night to withdraw their pensions. Others appeared only this morning, and many pensioners are trying to cut in line.

To limit the crowds, it was decided that banks would pay out money in alphabetical order: today those whose last names end with letters from A to I can withdraw money, tomorrow from K to N, and on Friday everyone else. However, this decision caused additional resentment among many Greeks, who were not informed about it in time and thus stood in line for hours unnecessarily. 

Several cases have been reported where elderly people fell ill due to waiting in lines and were taken to the hospital.