Syriza's radical activists divided over backing austerity package – and Tsipras

In the city where the party unveiled its manifesto, many of the grassroots feel betrayed by the bailout and blame Greece's leader for not calling the troika's bluff

In Thessaloniki this week, some Syriza activists have found brief relief in a bit of gallows humour. You can buy many kinds of local pastries, or bougatsa, in the city - bougatsa with cheese, cream, or mince meat. "Soon we'll be having bougatsa with memorandum," smiled Syriza activist Tassos Gkouvas, as he drank coffee on Wednesday with Athina Teskou, a member of the local party's governing committee.

The joke is particularly bittersweet in Thessaloniki, Greece's second city. It was here, last September, that Alexis Tsipras unveiled the manifesto that became known as the Thessaloniki Programme. It was this anti-austerity package that the Syriza leader was then elected in January to implement. And it was that package that Tsipras in effect renounced on Sunday by agreeing to another EU memorandum aimed at ushering in exactly the things Syriza said it would oppose.

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