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Greece news as it happened: Civil unrest on the streets of Athens as Greek parliament votes through crippling austerity reforms

Greece is bracing itself for serious civil unrest

Hazel Sheffield
Thursday 16 July 2015 11:41 EDT
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Riot police stand among petrol bombs thrown by anti-austerity demonstrators in front of the Greek parliament in Athens on Wednesday night
Riot police stand among petrol bombs thrown by anti-austerity demonstrators in front of the Greek parliament in Athens on Wednesday night (Reuters)

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Greece was last night bracing itself for serious civil unrest as MPs passed a bill to implement major economic reforms demanded by creditors in return for a bailout.

The International Monetary Fund’s shock admission that Greece could not hope to repay its debts fuelled public anger, and earlier in the day strikes and protests closed metro stations and brought city centre traffic to a standstill.

But as MPs prepared to vote, anarchist protesters outside the parliament building hurled rocks and petrol bombs at riot police who responded with teargas.

The sense of crisis had been heightened by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras claiming the bailout he negotiated on Greece’s behalf was a deal he did “not believe in”.

Once news emerged around 2am local time that Mr Tsipras had succeeded in gaining parliamentary approval for austerity measures he’d condemned only weeks earlier, following a debate, tensions rose again among the thousands outside in Syntagma Square. (Michael Day and Doug Bolton)

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