Hundreds of youths smashed and looted stores in
central Athens and clashed with riot police during a massive anti-government
rally against painful new austerity measures that won initial parliamentary
approval in a vote Wednesay night.
The rioting came on the first day of a 48-hour nationwide general strike
that brought services in much of Greece to a standstill, grounding flights
for hours, leaving ferries tied up in port and shutting down customs offices,
stores and banks.

Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reports from Athens.