From a distance (and perhaps on the ground as well) it looks like a lot of pain and stress for something that will fail anyway. Fewer and fewer people actually believe that Greece will be able to pay off the new bailout and stay in the eurozone. Default won't be a great ride either but why saddle everyone with debt only to satisfy the banks? The Guardian:
But no sooner had the MPs cast their ballots and European Union leaders had welcomed the "landmark" vote, the real drama began outside parliament where another approach to democracy saw protesters battle with riot police. The clashes continued into the early hours as MPs return to parliament today to vote on a law that will speed the austerity measures through parliament.
Teargas filled the air and Syntagma Square, the nerve centre of Greece's new resistance movement, descended into chaos. Within minutes, the plaza resembled a warzone. The detritus of battle lay everywhere with burning barricades, smashed pavements, shattered masonry, looted shops and destroyed kiosks.
"Dangerous amounts of teargas are being used to terrorise people," communist MP Athanasios Pafilis said as parliament wrapped up two days of debate on the debt-reduction measures. "It's an intolerable situation ... what we are seeing is chemical warfare and it has to stop."
