Clashes as Greek Parliament debates bailout law

Protesters clash with riot police in front of the Greek Parliament in Athens on February 12, 2012. Greek police used tear gas on petrol bomb-throwing protesters outside parliament where lawmakers were debating a new austerity plan aimed at staving off bankruptcy. / LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images

Last Updated 4:15 p.m. ET

ATHENS, Greece - Fireballs lit up the night sky in Greece's capital as buildings were set ablaze late Sunday amid widespread rioting and looting before a historic parliamentary vote expected to approve harsh austerity measures demanded to keep the country from going bankrupt and within the eurozone.

At least 10 buildings, including a closed cinema, a bank, a mobile phone dealership, a glassware store and a cafeteria, were on fire. There were no immediate reports of people trapped inside. Dozens of shops were also looted in the worst damage the country has seen since unrest in December 2008 following the fatal police shooting of a teenager.

Dozens of police officers and at least 37 protesters were injured in Sunday's violence, and more than 20 suspected rioters were detained. Clashes erupted after more than 100,000 protesters marched to parliament to rally against drastic austerity cuts that will ax one in five civil service jobs and slash the minimum wage by more than a fifth.

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Violent protests over Greek austerity measures

Since May 2010, Greece has survived on a euro110 billion ($145 billion) bailout from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund. When that proved insufficient, a new rescue loan package worth a further euro130 billion ($171 billion) was decided -- combined with a massive bond swap deal that will write off half the country's privately held debt.

But for both deals to materialize, Greece has to persuade its deeply skeptical creditors that it has the will and ability to implement spending cuts and public sector reforms that will end years of fiscal profligacy and tame gaping budget deficits.

A three-story corner building was completely consumed by flames with riot officers looking on from the street, and firefighters trying to douse the blaze. Protesters set bonfires in front of parliament and dozens of riot police formed lines to try to deter them from trying to make a run on parliament. Clouds of tear gas drifted across the square in front of parliament. Many in the crowd wore gas masks and had their faces covered, while others carried Greek flags and carried banners.

Riot police officers walk pass a fire as they clash protesters in front of the Greek Parliament in Athens on February 12, 2012. Police said some 25,000 protesters were massed outside the building and at nearby Omonia Square, with some 3,000 police deployed and more protesters arriving.

/ LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images

Riot police fired dozens of tear gas volleys at rioting youths, who attacked them with firebombs, fireworks and chunks of marble smashed off the fronts of luxury hotels, banks and department stores.

Streets were strewn with stones, smashed glass and burnt wreckage, while terrified passers-by sought refuge in hotel lounges and cafeterias.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos' government -- an unlikely coalition of the majority Socialists and their main foes, the conservative New Democracy -- was expected to carry the vote, even by a narrow margin.

Combined, they control 236 of Parliament's 300 seats, although at least 20 lawmakers from both main parties said they would not back the new private sector wage cuts, pension reductions and civil service layoffs dictated by the draft austerity program.

"There are very few such moments in the history of a nation," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said. "Our country has an acute issue of survival."

"The question is not whether some salaries and pensions will be curtailed, but whether we will be able to pay even these reduced wages and pensions," he added. "When you have to choose between bad and worse, you will pick what is bad to avoid what is worse."

The new cutbacks, which follow two years of harsh income losses and tax hikes -- amid a deep recession and record high unemployment -- have been demanded by Greece's bailout creditors in return for a new batch of vital rescue loans.

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[markag55]

Greece, in the past 25 or more years, has demanded back their own antiquities from other countries whose archaeologists had painstakingly found and preserved them.

Maybe Greece should "lease" back these antiquities to those countries for a long period of time and use that money to pay its debts. Charge France for having "Winged Victory" as one its masterpieces--don't confront Le Louvre or France--but make a contract with them.

Even though Athens, itself, doesn't hold most of ancient Greek buildings or sculptures, it does have the Acropolis.

Selling ancient Greek statues and temples is out of the question. However, leasing them to museums throughout the world on a 99 year lease (like England did with Hong Kong) might not be a bad idea. Maybe make it for 25 years to get out of their financial mess now. They have the means; is it Greek pride to lend back the antiquities that they have demanded back? However, let them do it this time with a contract.

Work out with world museums a lend/lease Act--especially with the "Elgin Marbles" in London. Don't demand them back immediately, Greece, but definitely claim them as your own, allowing the UK continued viewing privileges, but for a price. Let them "rent" them, as they (and I think everyone who has been to the Acropolis) belong to Greece.

If you, the Greek Government, can work out lend/lease agreements with all the countries that have taken your ancient legacies, then maybe those Greeks living on a pension, as well as those Greeks still working and trying to keep a "Western" style of living, might actually benefit. Greeks: "Think Outside the Box!"

[tmn]

They're going to need to cut back on the extra-virgin olive oil and just use regular from now on...

[smittyc]

The Greeks never should have joined the Euro in the first place. Papademas who led them then and leads them now is the one most responsible. He knew or should have known the government was not being truthful about the debt they reported to gain entry into the Eurozone. What's going to happen is Greece is going to exit the Euro currency and Euro Zone, and go back to riding around in their donkey carts and gardening/farming. I seriously doubt they will get anymore bailout money since they have not lived up to their previous commitments. Greece will not be alone, Portugal, Spain and Ireland will follow, Italy further down the road. The bigger picture is the private sector is refusing to buy German bonds to finance the bailouts.