Greek lawmakers have narrowly passed a crucial austerity bill by majority vote, but with heavy dissent from within the three-party governing coalition.
Immediately after the vote early Thursday and before the tally had been officially announced, two of the coalition parties expelled a total of seven dissenting deputies from their ranks.
The third party in the coalition, the small Democratic Left, mostly voted "present" — in essence abstaining from the vote.
Earlier Wednesday, a demonstration against the bill by more than 80,000 people in Athens degenerated into violence as hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police.
The vote was the toughest test yet for the country's fragile four-month-old coalition government, which had to pass the €13.5 billion ($17 billion Cdn) package of measures to ensure Greece continues receiving vital bailout funds from its international creditors to avoid bankruptcy.
Hundreds of protesters hurled rocks and gasoline bombs at lines of riot police guarding parliament, who responded with volleys of tear gas and stun grenades, and the first use of water cannon in Greece in years.
Some in the demonstration ran for cover as running battles broke out with police on the second day of a 48-hour general strike.
Clouds of tear gas rose from Syntagma Square.
Inside the parliament building, lawmakers interrupted the debate as parliament employees went on strike to protest cuts to their wages brought by Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras in an amendment to the austerity bill.
Stournaras later withdrew the amendment, and the tempestuous debate resumed after parliament employees returned to work.
Greece's next bailout loan instalment of €31.5 billion, out of a total of €240 billion, is already five months overdue.
Without it, Samaras said, Greece will run out of money on Nov. 16.
If Athens cannot raise sufficient funds otherwise, it will quickly find it impossible to pay its huge debts.
As well as pushing the country out of the 17-country group that uses the euro, this could trigger a nightmare of bank runs, hyperinflation and currency depreciation that would vapourize savings and put many basic goods out of the reach of many Greeks.
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