A Greek pensioner shot himself dead in the busiest public square in Athens during the morning rush hour on Wednesday - leaving a note which police said linked his suicide with the country s acute financial woes.\nThe 77-year-old retired pharmacist drew a handgun and shot himself in the head near a subway exit on central Syntagma Square which was crowded with commuters police said.\nThe square opposite the Greek Parliament is a focal point for public protests.\nAnti-austerity groups issued calls through social media for peaceful protests in the country s two main cities later on Wednesday accusing Greek politicians of driving people to despair with the harsh cutbacks implemented to secure vital international bailouts.\nGreece has relied on international rescue loans since May 2010 - but lenders demanded austerity measures with cuts in pensions and salaries and increased taxes as conditions. One in five Greeks is now unemployed.\nI am truly shocked said Athens doctor Dimitris Giannopoulos because I see that as destroying my dignity... and the only thing they care about are bank accounts.\nPolice said a handwritten note was found on the retired pharmacist s body in which he attributed his decision to the debt crisis.\nGreece has seen an increase in suicides over the past two years of economic hardship during which the country repeatedly teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.\nPolice did not release his name and offered few other details.\nSoon after the suicide about a dozen written messages had been pinned to the tree under which the man shot himself some reading Who will be the next victim \nA Greek Orthodox priest performed a service at the spot as a couple of dozen passers-by and tourists looked on.