Rioters clash with police in Greece as vote looms on austerity measures

UPDATE: Greece has passed controversial new austerity measures - but its people definitely aren’t happy.

Anti-austerity protesters shown holding a Greek flag reading ''Greece we love you''. Things got ugly after that though.

RIOTERS hurled petrol bombs at police, who responded with tear gas, as an anti-austerity demonstration outside parliament turned violent in Greece overnight.

The clashes came as Greece’s politicians started to debate the contentious measures needed to seal a new bailout and avoid financial collapse. Those measures have since passed through the nation’s parliament, despite opposition from within Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s own party. Former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis voted against them.

Earlier, groups of hooded and masked youths among the 12,000 protesters smashed storefronts, threw rocks and set at least one vehicle on fire while chanting angrily. Police fired tear gas to push them back, and reportedly detained at least 50 people.

Riot police try to avoid petrol bombs.

‘WE HEARD BANG, BANG, BANG’

An Australian police officer who was caught in the chaos while honeymooning in Athens has told 3AW about her ordeal.

“We set out for a nice romantic evening on our last night of our honeymoon,” Rebecca Amore told the station’s breakfast show.

“We had a perfect spot on a balcony in a beautiful restaurant and then things started to take a turn from there.”

Mrs Amore and her husband were staying in a hotel “literally a minute” from Syntagma Square, the epicentre of the protest.

“All of a sudden we saw police and they started to put their helmets on ... we heard bang, bang, bang and it literally shuddered through you, we thought there were fireworks,” she said. That’s when the tear gas hit.

“All of a sudden I got that tickle in my throat I’ve had a million times before. I looked at my husband, I got up off my table because my eyes started to well.

“Soon enough the whole restaurant ran inside, it was so potent. Lucky they had bi-fold doors, otherwise we would have been in serious trouble and people were just running in seeking refuge from everywhere.”

A protester burns a Greek flag.

‘GOVERNMENT OF TRAITORS’

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has thrown his weight behind the reforms and Greece’s parliament looks likely to adopt them, despite rebels in Tsipras’s own party, Syriza. He is counting on the support of pro-European opposition parties.

The majority of Greeks voted against similar austerity terms in a referendum on July 5.

“Our government is a government of traitors. We voted ‘No’ then Tsipras signs up to even worse conditions. It’s madness,” raged unemployed demonstrator Arsenios Pappas, 35, before the violence broke out.

Greece's Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras.

Standing next to a banner showing a ‘No’ wrecking ball knocking down a wall of austerity measures, primary school teacher Natasia Kokkoli, 53, said the bailout deal “is simply not fair”, and perhaps it would be better to leave the eurozone.

“I think Greece is being used as an experiment by Europe. With the banks empty of course it’s hard, but without the euro maybe Greece could find its way again,” she said.

Vendors selling beer, roasted sweetcorn and nuts had been doing a brisk trade before gangs of mainly male protesters in black t-shirts, many sporting sunglasses over their balaclavas, started to taunt police.

“People are angry. Yes Tsipras had a choice, he chose to lie to us. This is the result,” said Maximos, 37, as protesters near him waved a sign reading “We said ‘No’, we meant ‘No’”.

“We have been betrayed!” shouted another man, who was wearing a balaclava, as police used pepper spray and gas to stop a crowd from breaching a security line.

Riot police officers survey the damage.

VIOLENT ESCALATION

It’s the first time protests have turned violent since the left-wing Syriza government came to power in January, promising to end austerity.

The bill being debated now includes consumer tax increases and pension reforms that will condemn Greeks to years of more economic hardship. It has fuelled anger inside the governing party and led to a revolt against Mr Tsipras by many party members.

A riot policeman, framed by fire.

The Prime Minister insists the deal, forged after a marathon weekend eurozone summit, was the best he could do to prevent Greece from crashing out of Europe’s joint currency.

“I must tell you, that Monday morning at 9:30, it was the most difficult day of my life. It was a decision that will weigh on me for the rest of my life,” said Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos.

“I don’t know if we did the right thing. But I know we did something with the sense that we had no choice. Nothing was certain and nothing is,” he said as the debate kicked off.

Anti-austerity protesters march in front of the parliament.

INTERNAL TENSIONS

Civil servants protested with a 24-hour strike that disrupted public transport and shut down state-run services across the country. Large numbers of Syriza lawmakers are almost certain to vote against the package, though the bill is expected to pass with support from pro-European opposition parties.

Alternate Finance Minister Nadia Valavani resigned from her post, saying she could not vote in favour of the bill. In a letter she sent to Tsipras on Monday, which was released by the finance ministry, Valavani said she believed “dominant circles in Germany” were intent on “the full humiliation of the government and the country.”

The economy ministry’s secretary-general, Manos Manousakis, also resigned over the agreement.

Greek Finance Minister Eyclid Tsakalotos. He’s had a rough day.

BROKEN PROMISES

Tsipras agreed to a deal after a marathon 17-hour eurozone summit that ended on Monday morning. It calls for Greece to pass new austerity measures in return for the start of negotiations on a third bailout worth about 85 billion euros in loans over three years.

The government, a coalition between Syriza and the small right-wing Independent Greeks, holds 162 seats in Greece’s 300-member parliament. More than 30 of Syriza’s own lawmakers have publicly voiced objections.

Tsipras has acknowledged the measures he agreed to go against his election pledges to end austerity, and described them as “irrational” in a TV interview. But he said he had no option if he was to prevent Greece’s financial collapse.

A protester clashes with riot police.

‘UNSUSTAINABLE’ DEBT

The International Monetary Fund, which was involved Greece’s previous two bailouts and will also play a role in the third, has long argued the country’s debt is too high and that any deal must include debt relief — something the Greek side has also insisted on.

In a report released late on Tuesday, the IMF said Greece’s debt was now “highly unsustainable” and would reach “close to 200 per cent of GDP in the next two years.”

Riot police officers walk past the fire.

On Wednesday, the European Union’s executive commission echoed that analysis, saying there are “serious concerns” about the sustainability of Greece’s debt due to a worsening in the economy.

Tsipras has faced strident dissent even from top ministers, with Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis saying in a post on his ministry’s website that the deal the prime minister reached was “unacceptable”, and calling for him to withdraw it.

Protesters clash with riot police in front of the Greek Parliament.

MORE DISRUPTIONS
The civil servants’ strike disrupted public services. Pharmacies joined in with their own 24-hour strike to object to the austerity deal, which will allow some non-prescription drugs to be sold by supermarkets.

“These laws will pass through parliament today, because they can’t do otherwise,” said Eleni Sari, 45, as she walked through central Athens.

“Naturally, the people are furious, and they have not allowed them any choice. Unfortunately it’s not in our hands anymore. That is, it’s no longer in the people’s hands. By necessity ... they will pass them in parliament, and by necessity we will bear their burden.”

Riot police launch tear gas during the clashes.

Greeks continue to struggle with limits on cash withdrawals and transfers outside of the country. Banks were shut down June 29 and the finance ministry says they will remain closed through Thursday.

With its banks dangerously low on liquidity and the state practically out of cash, Greece desperately needs funds. It faces a Monday deadline to repay 4.2 billion euros to the European Central Bank, and is also in arrears on two billion euros to the IMF.

Riot police officers run away from the fire as anti-austerity protesters throw petrol bombs.

TIME RUNNING OUT

Negotiations on the new bailout will take an estimated four weeks, leaving European finance ministers scrambling to find ways to get Athens some money sooner.

The European Commission has proposed giving Greece seven billion euros in loans from a special fund overseen by all 28 EU nations so it can meet its upcoming debts. The loan would be made pending the start of a full bailout program, but faces resistance from Britain, a non-euro member of the EU.

Germany has argued that one way for Greece to meet its financing obligations would be for it to issue IOUs.