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The BBC's Kirsty Lang and business reporter Aaron Heslehurst on Mrs Merkel's "symbolic" visit
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived amid heavy security for her first Greek visit since the eurozone crisis erupted nearly three years ago.
Some 7,000 police officers are on duty, with protests banned in certain areas.
However, many people who blame Germany for forcing painful austerity measures on Greece streamed into central squares carrying anti-Merkel banners.
Correspondents say this highly symbolic visit is a show support for Greece's continued membership of the eurozone.
It comes as Greece prepares to pass new cuts of 13bn euros (£10.5bn; $17bn) to qualify for more bailout cash, a policy that has sparked growing unrest.
While Germany has contributed the most money to the bailout, BBC Europe editor Gavin Hewitt says its chancellor is held responsible by many for demanding that Greece make swingeing cuts in exchange for the financing it has received.
Analysis
This is a highly symbolic visit, though it won't be an easy one. Angela Merkel will aim to show solidarity with debt-ridden Greece - a crucial endorsement of the government here as it agrees on a new wave of spending cuts.
In the past she stayed away, she was critical of the slow pace of reform. Now she's keen to encourage, voicing her support for Greece's place in the euro. But she's reviled by many ordinary Greeks, who see her as the driving force behind painful austerity measures.
Protests are planned. Newspapers have made Nazi references. Beneath the tension, though, lies a crucial relationship: Greece depends on German money and the chancellor wants to preserve the single currency. And so both governments will play up their links, talking of a shared purpose, while on the streets, anger against Mrs Merkel will continue to boil.
Ahead of the visit, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi told the European Parliament that Greece had made progress, although "further work" was needed.
Mr Draghi told the parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on Tuesday: "It's quite clear that the progress at the level of undertaking the necessary policy reform has been perceptible and significant and it's also clear that more needs to be done."
'No to Fourth Reich'Mrs Merkel arrived in Athens on schedule at 13:30 local time (10:30 GMT) to be met by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
Police have banned protests on Tuesday in much of central Athens, and within a 100m radius of the route Mrs Merkel's motorcade will travel.
However, outside the lockdown zone, thousands of people have gathered, some carrying banners with slogans such as "No to the Fourth Reich".
A three-hour strike has also been called for the beginning of the afternoon.
Mrs Merkel will be in Athens for about six hours, and will hold talks with Mr Samaras, followed by a joint press conference and then a meeting with President Karolos Papoulias.
The BBC's Mark Lowen, in Athens, says no grand announcements are expected, but for Mr Samaras it is a crucial show of support from Europe's paymaster.
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Vassilis, Athens resident: "She should see how the people are suffering"
The capital is said to be carrying out its biggest security operation in a decade.
Left-wing newspapers on Tuesday encouraged widespread, but non-violent protests.
A spokesperson for the leftist Syriza party, Yiannis Bournos, told the BBC's Newsday it was expecting huge demonstrations.
"People are frustrated and enraged because they clearly understand that Mrs Merkel's visit is just a theatre play for the political support of a collapsing coalition," Mr Bournos said.
On Monday, public order minister Nikos Dendias appealed to protesters to "protect the peace, and above all our country's prospects and our international image", Reuters news agency reported.
The Greek government says the visit is a "positive step".
Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told Greek television: "We believe this is a message of faith in the course of the Greek government, the Greek economy."
"Start Quote
End QuoteChancellor Merkel has gambled that the visit will demonstrate she intends to stand behind the Greeks"
And despite the protests, some Athens citizens were upbeat about the visit.
Constantinos Siathas told Associated Press: "I think most people, at least those who think and don't act based on feelings or utopian ideas, are pleased and are expecting a lot from Mrs Merkel's visit."
The trip is a gamble, our Europe editor says. If there is chaos on the streets, it will only underline for the German public that Greece is a lost cause.
But he says that the visit - her first to Greece in five years - is sending a symbolic message that she wants Greece to stay in the eurozone.
Speaking on Monday, Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the Eurogroup finance ministers of the eurozone, raised the pressure on Greece, calling on the government to demonstrate it could implement planned reforms "by 18 October at the latest" to qualify for the next bailout instalment of 31.5bn euros.
He was speaking as the eurozone's new permanent fund to bail out struggling economies and banks was formally launched at the finance ministers' meeting.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday that the global economic recovery was weakening, with government policies having failed to restore confidence.
It added that the risk of further deterioration in the economic outlook was "considerable" and had increased.
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