Violence rocks Greek anti-austerity protests

   Violence rocks Greek anti-austerity protests :Greek police sprayed tear gas on indignant protesters Tuesday as a general strike against the bankruptcy-threatened government set the stage for a defining vote in the Greek parliament. 

But European Union slapdowns and a call by new IMF chief Christine Lagarde for lawmakers to drop opposition and save Greece's "destiny" fed rising belief on the streets of Athens that the austerity measures were inevitable.
Nearly 10,000 demonstrated outside the parliament where Prime Minister George Papandreou hopes on Wednesday to win lawmakers' backing for a 28.4-billion-euro ($ 40.8 billion) package of tax grabs, spending cuts and sell-offs demanded by creditors to avoid bankruptcy.
"We don't want your money Europe," Iamando, 36, said on Syntagma Square. "Leave us alone - please, please, please."
"Even the Turks never imposed this volume of taxes on us," added 70-year-old ex-sailor Panayotis Bakossis.
The launch of a 48-hour general strike Tuesday brought about a blanket power cut and transport came to a standstill in the Greek capital.
Police said 21 officers were hurt in the clashes but made only a dozen or so arrests despite firebombs setting property ablaze and protesters smashing up the marble steps of a luxury hotel facing the legislature, to use as missiles.
EU president Herman Van Rompuy called on Greece's 300-seat parliament - where Prime Minister George Papandreou has a five-seat majority - to take a decision "crucial for the Greek people, but also for the eurozone and the stability of the world economy ".
Other Brussels officials sent out similar messages, before French finance minister Christine Lagarde was named the new head of the International Monetary Fund and immediately urged the Greek opposition "to join in national unity."
"The country's destiny is at stake," Lagarde said in a French television interview. "I think that at this moment they need to put aside their major political differences."
In a rare criticism of the government, the governor of the Bank of Greece, Giorgos Provopoulos, told an influential Greek daily that "piling more taxes on taxpayers has reached its limit."
Approval of the austerity measures, set to start voting today, would unblock 12 billion euros of emergency loans from last year's 110-billion-euro bailout.