As austerity digs in, Greek courts are battleground on foreclosures

Crowds of protesters gathered outside court chamber 7 in central Athens one recent Wednesday, unfurling a huge banner before they moved swiftly to block the entrance.

"No House in the Hands of Bankers" the banner read. In the court a property auction was underway.

On any given Wednesday for the past four years, activists have been taking their fight against austerity to the country's civil courts, fighting for people driven into poverty as a result of Greece's debt crisis and international bailouts.

Occasionally, skirmishes break out with police. But Greece is a country where the right to protest is considered sacrosanct, so the activists come back, week after week.

"People are fed up, they are exhausted from being incessantly pounded by payments and debts," said Leonidas Papadopoulos from the activist group Den Plirono, meaning I Won't Pay.

Advocating...