Buildings torched in Athens before debt vote (video)

Rioting spreads in Greek capital with mass protests outside parliament where politicians debate harsh budget cuts.

Greek police have fired tear gas at thousands of protesters hurling stones and petrol bombs outside parliament in Athens, as lawmakers inside debated a bill packed with more unpopular austerity measures.

Al Jazeera’s John Psaropoulos, reporting from Athens, said the protest on Sunday began peacefully but had rapidly descended into violence from both police and protesters.

"There is absolute mayhem in the square outside parliament. Thousands of [people] who started peacefully have not been budged by all the tear gas and stun grenades," he said.

By nightfall, an estimated 100,000 protesters were massed outside the building and at nearby Omonia Square, with some 6,000 police deployed and more protesters arriving. At least five building were in flames in downtown Athens, including a bank, mobile phone shop, glassware store and a cafeteria.

Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Phillips, who arrived in Athens as the violence was escalating, described the atmosphere as "surreal".

"The air is think with tear gas and there are debris and rocks everywhere. I’m now standing by a cinema, and it is no more. It’s going up in flames and firefighters are struggling to control it," Barnaby said.

He continued: "I’m looking back now at another building on fire. It’s quite surreal the scene here."

Despite the increasing violence in the streets, Al Jazeera’s Psaropoulos pointed out "the real news is occurring inside parliament".

"What this evening is about is the real concern about the deep cuts and the very deep public displeasure that surrounds them," Psaropoulos said.

’Social catastrophe’

Filippos Petsalnikos, the parliament president, opened the key session on Sunday to debate fresh austerity measures passed by the government, needed to unlock an international rescue package and avoid default..

The two remaining parties in the ruling coalition, Socialist PASOK and conservative New Democracy, are backing the measures and account for 236 out of a total of 300 deputies, but some MPs are certain to reject the package.

The vote on the measures is not expected until 2200 GMT on Sunday.

The debate comes after the prime minister warned that the nation was approaching "Ground Zero".

"We are a breath away from Ground Zero," Lucas Papademos said in a televised address on the eve of the vote, urging deputies to grasp their "historic responsibility" to secure the country’s financial future.

Papademos warned of "economic and social catastrophe" if parliament failed to agree the cuts required to obtain a second massive bail-out from the EU and IMF, to the tune of $171bn, and avoid default.

There are also signs of growing unrest in the government ranks. Two PASOK junior ministers and four members of the far-right LAOS party have quit the cabinet in protest in the run-up to the vote.

Union strike

The country’s unions held a 48-hour strike and have called a fresh demonstration on Sunday in front of parliament to protest what they say is the blackmail being imposed by the international troika of the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank.

Members of parliament will have to approve moves to recapitalise Greek banks, which may involve a degree of nationalisation if they cannot get sufficient private money.

And they must back a bond swap which, after long and tortuous negotiations, has finally been agreed with private creditors.

That is designed to wipe out around 100bn euros from Greece’s 350bn euro debt, reducing the country’s massive debt burden to 120 per cent of GDP.

If deputies reject the package, however, Greece will not get the money it needs to stave off bankruptcy on March 20, when it has to repay nearly 14.5bn euros in maturing debt.

"We look into the eyes of the Greek people with full consciousness of our historic responsibility. The social cost of this programme is limited in comparison with the economic and social catastrophe that would follow if we do not adopt it," Papademos said in his televised address.

"The standard of living of Greeks would collapse in the case of a disorderly bankruptcy. The country would drift into the long spiral of recession, instability, unemployment and prolonged misery."

The state would be unable to pay salaries, pensions or even maintain basic services such as hospitals and schools, he warned.

"The programme contains measures that should have been adopted long ago," he said.

’Economic chaos’

In a speech on Friday Papademos warned that default would result in chaos.

"It would create conditions of uncontrolled economic chaos and social explosion... sooner or later, (Greece) would be led out of the euro," he said.

The head of the International Finance Institute (IIF), Charles Dallaras, urged Greek politicians to pass the painful austerity measures demanded by creditors.

"I want to encourage them to vote. My voice is a very small part of this process, but it is very important for the MPs to understand what is at stake and to recognise that beyond austerity, which is part of the long-term dimension of this programme, there are many tangible benefits for Greece and the Greek people," Dallaras said in an interview to Kathimerini newspaper on Sunday.

"Austerity, of course, will continue. But we are moving toward another situation where the benefits I mentioned will start being felt, such as capital inflow, which will gradually give an end to uncertainty," Dallaras, who is the chief representative in the private debt discussions, added.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/02/2012212114832570350.html