The Greek parliament approved a painful set of austerity measures tonight, defying violent protests in central Athens and a general strike which shut down much of the country.
The struggling government of Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou won the parliamentary vote with 154 votes in favour and 144 against, despite the decision by one deputy in the ruling party to oppose one article in the package.
The victory should ensure the European Union and International Monetary Fund release a vital €8 billion loan tranche which the government needs to keep paying its bills past November.
The mix of deep pay and pension cuts, tax hikes and changes to collective bargaining agreements has been bitterly opposed and at least 70,000 people joined protests in Athens' Syntagma Square in front of parliament.
Groups of black-clad youths clashed with rivals from PAME, a communist-affiliated labour group, and police later cleared the square. At least 74 people were taken to hospital with injuries and one man died of a heart attack on the fringes of the protest. Officials said he had not been hurt in the incidents.
Mr Papandreou now flies to Brussels for a meeting of European leaders on Sunday to try to prevent the debt crisis spinning out of control. A second summit is also expected to be held on Wednesday.
"We are at a critical point, not only for us but for European history. I have never, in my memory, heard before from leaders of major European countries that there is danger of Europe coming apart," Mr Papandreou told a cabinet meeting before the vote.
"It is time for all of us now to assume our collective responsibility." As night fell, streets were strewn with rubbish and debris after hours of sporadic clashes but the square in front of parliament was cleared of demonstrators.
The head of the Greek Communist party, Aleka Papariga condemned the violence which she said had been deliberately provoked by groups of "hood-wearers".
"This was a pre-meditated attack," she told reporters, saying the rioters served the interests of what she termed "specific mechanisms".
"No matter what happens, we're not leaving," she said. "There's no other way out, people have to take the situation into their own hands."
The general strike called by unions representing around half the Greek workforce is one of the largest protests since the start of the crisis two years ago and brought more than 100,000 people to the streets yesterday.
The unrest that broke out during the rally left central Athens covered in smouldering rubbish and lumps of masonry hacked off buildings in a repeat of clashes seen in anti-austerity protests in June.
The mood remained hostile to both the government and the EU-IMF, which is expected to approve a new tranche of aid but which has pressed for tougher action from the government.
A spokesman for GSEE, the main private sector union, said strike levels had fallen today as many cash-strapped workers, who lose pay for stoppages, returned to work but protesters said they were determined to continue.
Yesterday's violence, which appeared to be the work of a hardcore group of mainly younger protesters, overshadowed the first day of the strike that shut down much of the country and drew in Greeks from broad sections of society.
Today, shops re-opened but ministries, schools and other public buildings were shut, transport services severely restricted and hospitals running on skeleton staffing.
Reuters