VOTES & VIOLENCE

GREECE fended off a bankruptcy that would have disturbed global markets and threatened the future of the euro when lawmakers backed controversial austerity measures in the face of violent protests.

Investors cheered the bill, which aims to cut spending and raise taxes by €28 billion and raise €50bn in privatisations over five years, but, in Athens, the mood was dark. In a haze of tear gas, protesters hurled anything they could find at riot police and tried to blockade the parliament building.

A Greek default would threaten the viability of the euro and send shock waves through global markets similar to those that kicked off the global financial meltdown after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.