Last updated at 12:39 AM on 13th February 2012
Greek MPs last night voted in favour of a controversial austerity bill as rioters again took to the streets and set buildings alight.
The punishing cuts to wages and pensions are fiercely stoking tensions in the near-bankrupt country.
Yet if the bill was not passed, Greece would have been denied a £110billion EU bailout package and finally run out of money.
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Anger: A petrol bomb explodes near riot police in Athens as lawmakers endorsed a new austerity dealDuring a stormy debate, MPs said the country faced a grim choice between bankruptcy through leaving the euro or approving the bailout and suffering years of hardship.
Prior to the vote, five ministers had quit and the prime minister warned Greece was just a ‘breath away from Ground Zero’.
Lucas Papademos warned that any rejection of the deal would lead to ‘uncontrollable economic chaos and social explosion’. Despite his words, thousands took to the streets urging the MPs to reject the cuts bill. They were greeted by almost 4,000 riot police and the two sides fought battles.
Tear gas was fired by police as rocks were thrown by protesters. At least ten buildings went up in flames including a three-storey corner property. A closed cinema, a bank, a mobile phone dealership, a glassware store and a cafeteria were among the burning buildings, the fire department said. There were no reports of injuries.
The clashes broke out at around 6pm local time as tens of thousands of people, responding to calls from unions, streamed into Syntagma Square facing parliament.
Peaceful protesters fled to nearby streets as anarchists threw bottles, rocks, pieces of marble and firebombs at police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades. Police say an officer was injured by a flare shot at him from a gun. He was taken to hospital.
Throwing the book: Greek Communist party MP Giorgos Mavrikos throws a booklet containing the new bailout deal for Greece
As riots raged outside, Greek Communist Party MPs raise their hands at the beginning of the parliament session in AthensThe austerity measures include more than £200million in pension cuts and a 22 per cent reduction in the minimum wage. The plan also aims to cut Greece’s bloated state sector workforce by about 150,000 by 2015 and introduce new laws to make it easier for workers to be sacked.
The Greek government has to pay back more than £12billion of its debt to holders of its bonds on March 20 – the deadline for the bill to be passed.
The legislation has caused turmoil within the ruling coalition and deepened a social crisis among Greeks already hit by a round of cuts and tax hikes to ease the country’s huge debt burden. Many Greeks see the introduction of cuts as a national humiliation.
Fire rages in Syntagma Square as cafes, shops and the historic Asty cinema (pictured left) go up in flames. The Asty has an underground room which was used by the Gestapo during World War II as a torture chamber
Under siege: Officers battled a huge anti-austerity demonstration in Athens’ Syntagma Square last night
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos warned there would be ‘economic chaos’ if the deal was not agreedBut Germany raised the pressure, warning that Europe had had enough of the country’s ‘broken promises’.
German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned: ‘The promises from Greece aren’t enough for us any more.’
Mr Schaeuble said the majority of Germans were willing to help, but he added: ‘It’s important to say that it cannot be a bottomless pit.
Greek police used tear gas on petrol bomb-throwing protesters outside the parliament
Riots: A man throws a missile as protesters clash with riot police
Fireworks and projectiles are aimed at the Greek parliament during the violent anti-austerity protests’That’s why the Greeks have to finally close that pit. And then we can put something in there. At least people are now starting to realise it won’t work with a bottomless pit.’
Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos told parliament that Greece had no easy way out and the alternative – bankruptcy and a departure from the eurozone – would be far worse.
Speaking during a stormy debate ahead of the vote, Mr Venizelos said: ‘Anyone who wants to remain in the euro and in the eurozone must abide by some rules.’
Anti-austerity protesters wave a Greek flag in front of the heavily guarded parliament in Athens’ Syntagma square
Riot police stand guard outside the parliament in Athens’ Syntagma square
Angry exchanges: The new round of austerity measures are meant to allow the country facing bankruptcy to qualify for a second international bailoutWith Greece already in its fifth year of recession, opponents argued the austerity measures are stifling the economy and leading to soaring unemployment. Roughly half of young Greeks are jobless.
Yesterday’s riots were the third in less than a year as the Greek public demonstrated their disapproval at the way their politicians have brought the country to its knees.
In June last year, police fought pitched battles with protesters in Syntagma Square after MPs voted through the deeply unpopular austerity package.
Again, tens of thousands gathered outside the Greek parliament while politicians debated the cuts.
Street battles: A protester kicks a tear gas canister fired into the crowd of protesters
Unrest: A masked woman piles into riot police after tear gas is fired into the crowd
Police in full riot gear dodge petrol bombs hurled at them by protesters in the latest demonstrations against proposed cuts
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