Indebted Greek man kills himself in parliament square

A Greek pensioner shot and killed himself in Athens' parliament square on Wednesday after crying out to bystanders that crippling debts had pushed him to take his life.

Suicides have risen in Greece as a deepening economic crisis leaves one in five jobless and countless more struggling to survive on sharply reduced salaries and pensions.

Police said at least two witnesses saw the 77-year-old retired pharmacist put a handgun to his head in Syntagma Square and pull the trigger after yelling out, "I have debts, I can't stand this anymore."

A suicide note was found in his coat pocket that blamed politicians and financial troubles for driving him to the brink, police said. The government had "annihilated any hope for my survival and I could not get any justice. I cannot find any other form of struggle except a dignified end before I have to start scrounging for food from the trash"," the note said.

Another passerby told Greek television she heard the man say "I don't want to leave my debts to my children," before he shot himself. The busy square, through which thousands pass by during the morning commute hours when the suicide occurred, was cordoned off while the body was taken away.

Greece is stumbling through its worst post-World War Two economic crisis as austerity measures demanded by foreign lenders in exchange for financial aid push the country into its fifth year of recession.

The government last year said suicides had shot up 40 percent over the previous two years as the worsening crisis drives ordinary Greeks to despair.