Debt-battered Greece was on tenter-hooks yesterday after lawmakers narrowly approved billions of euros in tough new spending cuts to unlock another slice of international aid and save the country from imminent bankruptcy.

Late on Wednesday MPs adopted an €18.5-billion package of cuts and labour reforms as tens of thousands of angry protesters massed outside Parliament, with scenes of sporadic violence as demonstrators hurled petrol bombs and police fired tear gas.

Despite the approval of the crucial measures, conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s coalition Government was licking its wounds after seven MPs defected and it must now battle to ensure the cuts do not sink Greece deeper into recession.

The package is vital for eurozone member Greece to unlock a €31.5 billion tranche of aid from its troika of international creditors – the EU, IMF and ECB.

Eurozone creditors are due to make a decision on the release of the funds – part of a massive rescue package – at a meeting of finance ministers on Monday. Without the aid, Greece risks running out of money on November 16.

“The measures were adopted but now the problems begin both for the people who face major cuts and also for the Government,” the mass-selling Ta Nea newspaper said.