The latest round of lay-offs at Greek broadcaster Antenna Group has sparked angry scenes and flash strikes.

Antenna, which operates its flagship ANT1 channel in Greece, made 28 technicians and cameramen redundant last week.

The move has sparked outrage as many had been with the company for more than two decades, covering dangerous assignments in war zones and areas of political unrest.

Journalists and technicians walked out in support of their colleagues, meaning that since Friday, for the first time in its 26-year history, Antenna has not aired an evening news bulletin.

The Union of Private Television Technicians of Attica called a 24-hour strike and the Journalists’ Union of Athens Newspapers responded with a 48-hour strike.

The unions have accused the government of not applying its own labour laws, which seek to protect employees against the interests of media moguls.

Minister of state Nikos Pappas accused channels of using the forthcoming TV licences auction ^[1] as an excuse for mass lay-offs.

Pappas said: “We urge the owners of TV stations to respect legality, labour rights and the freedom of the press, and not to use the bill as an excuse for dismissals, especially at this time when a public consultation has started on this important question of legitimacy and democracy.”

Antenna has reportedly filed a lawsuit asking that the strike be declared illegal.

The company has been slashing its staff numbers ^[2] for almost a year now as the Greek economic crisis continues to hit broadcasters hard.

In July, Ioannis Latsios, the long-serving director of programmes at ANT1, left by mutual consent ^[3]. Petros Mpoutos left his role ^[4] as MD of the company’s in-house production arm in March.