Greek lawmakers backed a stinging new austerity plan demanded by international creditors yesterday, enraging protesters fighting street battles with police firing tear gas.

Lawmakers voted 155 to 138 for the hotly-disputed package to slash €28.4 billion from the balance of government spending by 2015, a plan aimed at unlocking emergency finance from the EU and the IMF.

Greek governing party lawmaker Alexandros Athanassiadis, who said he would vote against a giant austerity package passed in Parliament yesterday but then didn’t, was attacked early evening in an Athens street, police said. Police said demon­strators threw water bottles at the MP in a chic area near the troubled Syntagma Square, after the austerity vote secured a majority, triggering violence and vandalism in different parts of the Greek capital.

The MP was not injured, but local TV footage from mobile phone video showed him being taunted.

Meanwhile hardcore youths hurled missiles at police, who responded with volleys of tear gas that blanketed Syntagma Square in front of the Parliament and reached high floors in surrounding buildings.

Security forces drove protesters further away from the Parliament, but a blaze broke out at the finance ministry on the far side of the square amid early evening running battles. Firefighters said they could not get at the fire because of the violence.

“We’re going to carry on the protest until the government falls, and it will fall,” said student Thanas, 22, said.

“It’s chaos here, we’ll stay whatever happens though, we’re going to fight to take back the square,” added 22-year-old law student Debbi.

EU leaders starting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed the result, despite the fact a second vote on the detail behind the measures has to be held today.

The euro firmed and Greek stocks again rose as EU president Herman Van Rompuy applauded a “vote of national responsibility.”

The yes vote was “the only way to buy time and start the great changes this country needs,” Mr Papandreou said, pledging to do “everything to avoid the collapse of this country,” with the plans deemed essential to prevent default on its €350-billion debt mountain.

The plan is a condition for €12 billion of emergency loans needed by mid-July from stressed eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund, that could now be unlocked by eurozone finance ministers as early as their next meeting on Sunday.

Eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker urged another yes vote on Thursday “in these grave and crucial times for Greece” as MPs started their debate on the “implementation” of radical reforms.

Police said 72 people, including 26 officers, had received hospital treatment, and emergency services said the nearby King George hotel was closed “as a precaution.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.