The bailout's high price

Athens picked up the pieces of a night of rioting that left 45 buildings torched on Monday after Greece's parliament approved austerity measures required to secure a second international bailout and avoid defaulting on its debt next month.

As the vote was debated overnight, there were violent scenes outside parliament where some 100,000 protesters had rallied to voice anger.

Banks were among the buildings targeted by the rioters, and looting of shops and cafes was also commonplace. A historic building that houses a pre-World War II cinema was also set on fire. Some threw fire bombs at police, who responded with stun grenades and tear gas. At one point, tear gas infiltrated the parliament building.

Dozens of police officers and at least 37 protesters were injured in the violence, with at least 20 suspected rioters detained.

State television reported that violence spread to the islands of Corfu and Crete, and some 20,000 protesters gathered in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

The rioters were responding to yet another round of deep cuts implemented by Greek lawmakers. This round of belt-tightening includes a 22 percent cut to the minimum wage.

Lawmakers expelled

The two parties supporting the measures expelled more than 40 deputies early on Monday, immediately after the vote, for failing to back the bill. The conservative New Democracy party said it had expelled 21 of its 83 representatives, while the socialist PASOK party expelled about 20 of its 153 lawmakers.

The vote was eagerly awaited by other EU member states, with warnings that failure to approve the plan - and a subsequent default by Athens - would throw the eurozone into crisis.

German Economy Minister Philipp Rösler said it was now up to Greece to actually carry out the reforms.

"It is good that the laws were passed and with a large majority but what counts now is the implementation of structural reforms," said Rösler on German television Monday morning. "We have gone a step in the right direction, but we are still a long way from the goal."

The austerity package is intended to secure a new 130-billion-euro ($171-billion) bailout package - the second of its kind - from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. If deputies had rejected the package, Venizelos said, Greece would have been unable to secure funding in time to repay existing debts worth 14.5 billion euros debt by a March 20 deadline.

mz,rc/msh (AFP, Reuters, AP)