Athens:
Hours of rioting outside Greece's parliament left 46 people injured on Tuesday, on the eve of a vote by lawmakers to adopt more painful austerity measures, a condition for bailout funds needed to prevent a potentially disastrous default.
At least 14 people were arrested, authorities said, as youths clashed with riot police on-and-off for more than 10 hours and into the night, leaving the city centre filled with tear gas and strewn with smashed-up marble paving stones.
The unions had begun a 48-hour strike that shut down services and staged mass rallies through the capital in another day of chaotic protest.
A peaceful protest by about 20-thousand people quickly degenerated into violence, and riot police fired volleys of tear gas and stun grenades to keep back hooded youths who were pelting them with chunks of ripped up paving stones and marble chipped from building facades and steps.
Several thousand people gathered in Athens' Syntagma Square in the evening.
Hooded youth were seen hitting police with wooden sticks, throwing stones at police lines and pointing laser beams at them.
The officers responded with charges and salvos of teargas.
All throughout the evening, police unsuccessfully struggled to take control of Athens' main Syntagma square while hooded youths burned rubbish, hurled stones and everything at hand towards the officers.
Policemen responded with salvos of teargas and charges, but were each time forced to retread under of rain of projectiles launched by the protesters.
The protests and violence in Athens came on the fringes of a general strike brought the country to a standstill.
The unrest is directed against the Greek parliament where government hopes to get further austerity measures approved this week.
Police and health officials said 37 policemen and nine protesters were hurt in Tuesday's clashes.
Rioters also set fire to giant parasols at an outdoor cafe, using some to form barricades.
On Tuesday, lawmakers were embarking on their second day of debate on a package that must be passed in votes on Wednesday and Thursday if Greece is to receive another batch of bailout funds to see it beyond the middle of next month.
If the votes don't pass, Greece could become the first eurozone nation to default on its debts, and that could send out huge shock waves through the global economy.
But the measures, which include spending cuts and tax rises on even those on minimum wages, have caused widespread outrage.
At least 14 people were arrested, authorities said, as youths clashed with riot police on-and-off for more than 10 hours and into the night, leaving the city centre filled with tear gas and strewn with smashed-up marble paving stones.
The unions had begun a 48-hour strike that shut down services and staged mass rallies through the capital in another day of chaotic protest.
A peaceful protest by about 20-thousand people quickly degenerated into violence, and riot police fired volleys of tear gas and stun grenades to keep back hooded youths who were pelting them with chunks of ripped up paving stones and marble chipped from building facades and steps.
Several thousand people gathered in Athens' Syntagma Square in the evening.
Hooded youth were seen hitting police with wooden sticks, throwing stones at police lines and pointing laser beams at them.
The officers responded with charges and salvos of teargas.
All throughout the evening, police unsuccessfully struggled to take control of Athens' main Syntagma square while hooded youths burned rubbish, hurled stones and everything at hand towards the officers.
Policemen responded with salvos of teargas and charges, but were each time forced to retread under of rain of projectiles launched by the protesters.
The protests and violence in Athens came on the fringes of a general strike brought the country to a standstill.
The unrest is directed against the Greek parliament where government hopes to get further austerity measures approved this week.
Police and health officials said 37 policemen and nine protesters were hurt in Tuesday's clashes.
Rioters also set fire to giant parasols at an outdoor cafe, using some to form barricades.
On Tuesday, lawmakers were embarking on their second day of debate on a package that must be passed in votes on Wednesday and Thursday if Greece is to receive another batch of bailout funds to see it beyond the middle of next month.
If the votes don't pass, Greece could become the first eurozone nation to default on its debts, and that could send out huge shock waves through the global economy.
But the measures, which include spending cuts and tax rises on even those on minimum wages, have caused widespread outrage.
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