Cost of living protests gridlock Belgium, Greece

Workers have walked off the job in Greece and Belgium during nationwide strikes against increasing consumer prices, disrupting transportation, forcing flight cancellations and shutting down public services in the latest European protests over the rising cost of living.

In Greece, where workers were holding a 24-hour general strike, thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki on Wednesday. Brief clashes broke out at the end of demonstrations in both cities, with small groups of protesters breaking off from the main march to throw Molotov cocktails and rocks at police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

The clashes were over within minutes. Police said one officer was injured in Athens, while two people were arrested in the capital and another eight were arrested in Thessaloniki.

The strike disrupted services around the country, with ferries tied up in port, severing connections to Greece's islands, state-run schools shut, public hospitals running with reduced staff and most public transport grinding to a standstill.

Belgium's nationwide strike over the increasing cost of living snarled traffic through much of the country and disrupted businesses as workers set up picket lines at supermarkets and shopping centers.

As the country's main trade unions called for wage increases, the action led most trains and public urban traffic to be reduced to a minimum and 60 percent of flights to be canceled at Brussels airport. Staff in about two-thirds of hospitals in the French-speaking Wallonia region and Brussels joined in, with non-urgent appointments and operations postponed, the CSC union said.

READ MORE: French unions call one-day Paris metro strike

Repercussions of Ukraine conflict 

Europe has faced a series of protests and strikes in recent months over soaring inflation. As Russia's assault in Ukraine has driven up energy and food prices, workers from nurses to pilots to railway staff have walked off the job, seeking wages that keep pace with inflation. Others have joined in by taking to the streets to pressure governments to do more to ease rising bills even as European leaders have passed energy relief packages.

And more are ahead. 

Half the Paris subway system will shut down on Thursday during a strike for higher wages, part of a nationwide day of walkouts and protests by train drivers, teachers and other public-sector workers.

Britain's largest nursing union, the Royal College of Nursing, said on Wednesday that its members had voted to strike at a majority of hospitals and health centers across the country. No dates have been set for the walkout, which will be the first nationwide strike in the union's 106-year history.

READ MORE: Workers strike over pay disrupts train travel in UK

Ground, air traffic disrupted in Greece

In Greece's capital, no buses or trolleys were running, while only one of the three subway lines was operating, running a limited service only until the afternoon.

Flight traffic controllers had been due to participate in the strike with a six-hour work stoppage but had to reverse that decision late on Tuesday after a court deemed their participation illegal. However, airlines had already cancelled dozens of flights, which they could not all reschedule at the last minute.

Passengers arriving at Athens' international airport had extremely limited options to get into town, with no bus, regular taxi, subway or suburban railway services available. Crowds gathered at car rental agencies, while others tried to leave on intercity buses, which were the only form of public transport still running.

Annual inflation in the 19 countries that use the euro currency, including Greece and Belgium, hit a record 10.7 percent last month, largely driven by higher energy prices. 

Inflation was a bit lower in Greece at 9.8 percent in October — a drop from 12.1 percent in September — and higher in Belgium at 13.1 percent, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat.

Belgian trade unions say gas prices have gone up by 130 percent in just one year, electricity by 85 percent and fuel by 57 percent, while food prices also have increased.