Split Greece teeters on the brink with referendum

Tsipras says the vote is needed to force creditors to finally accept his key demand of another round of debt relief to save Greece from financial meltdown and possibly crashing out of the euro.

But critics have complained the referendum’s very technical question is unintelligible, and that the bailout deal it asks voters to weigh expired on Tuesday.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned in Brussels that Greece’s negotiating position would be “dramatically weakened” in the event of a “No” — and still difficult even in the event of a “Yes” vote.

As the clock ticked down there was palpable exasperation among Greece’s Eurozone partners, at least one of whom branded the government as “amateurs” asking for a blank check.

But there were also shows of solidarity, with anti-austerity rallies organized in Barcelona, Dublin, London and Lisbon.

In the Irish capital, hundreds of people marched to Greek music from the Irish Central Bank to parliament waving the blue and white-striped flag and chanting “Athens, Athens, we’re with you, we’re against the troika (creditors) too.”

In Madrid, Pablo Iglesias — the head of Syriza’s Spanish ally Podemos — echoed their cry, saying a ‘No’ vote “will bring us closer to the restoration of democracy in Europe”.

The high stakes in Sunday’s knife-edge referendum prompted some Greeks living abroad to return home to cast their votes.

At Athens airport on the eve of the plebiscite, Kostas Kokkinos, a 60-year-old Greek living in Cyprus, told AFP he flew in especially to tick the ‘Yes’ box.

Thanasis Hadzilacos, a professor in his late 60s also living in Cyprus, said he had brought his summer vacation forward for the plebiscite and was leaning towards a ‘No’.

But he added: “I don’t think either result will make much difference anyway, especially as it is so close.”