Violent clashes as government votes to slash wages in Greece

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades as the violence escalated outside parliament.

An estimated 20,000 protesters marched to parliament during a general strike against new employment reforms in Greece.

The strike grounded flights, closed factories, and disrupted hospital and transport services.

Youths wearing black masks and ski goggles used sledgehammers to smash paving stones and hurled the rubble at police. A central post office near parliament briefly caught fire as employees and bystanders ran for safety.

The chaotic clashes were among the worst since the start of Greece's financial crisis, which ignited the European debt crisis. In May, three people died in a bank torched by rioters.

Greece was saved from bankruptcy in May by an international rescue loan package. In return, the government slashed pensions and salaries, raised taxes and retirement ages and eased restrictions on private sector sackings.

Last night the government won a key vote in parliament on new employment reforms that include deeper pay cuts, salary caps and involuntary staff transfers at state companies.

The new law also reduces unions' collective bargaining power in the private sector, allowing employers to slash salaries.

"There is huge participation in this strike ... I believe it will put pressure on the government," Stathis Anestis, deputy leader of Greece's largest union, the GSEE, said.

"We want the government to take back the latest labour law that will hurt workers' rights."