Lawmakers cast a decisive second vote Thursday on stinging new austerity to anchor the financial future of Greece and the eurozone, after days of rioting and now a public inquiry into police violence.
The final, mid-afternoon vote in the parliament, after Prime Minister George Papandreou secured an initial thumbs-up Wednesday on his 28.4-billion-euro ($40 billion) cuts, follows a mammoth clean-up job on the streets of Athens.
A police source said the Greek government has ordered an investigation into the violence unleashed when officers moved in on demonstrators leaving more than 100 requiring hospital treatment during the rioting.
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Minister for civil protection Christos Papoutsis will focus on images broadcast on private Greek TV Alter showing riot police collaborating with hardcore elements in civilian gear carrying bats to clear peaceful protesters.
Papoutsis "has ordered the chief of police Eleftherios Iconomou to conduct a detailed inquiry to shed light on the images broadcast," a statement from the ministry later said.
Blocks of downtown Athens resembled a battlefield for hours on Wednesday night, blanketed by tear gas still hanging in the air on Thursday morning as workers washed away the debris from fiery barricades and vandalism of public and private property.
About 500 protesters spent hours on Wednesday evening in the mouth of the metro station on Syntagma Square. Some carried weapons, and cowered as police hurled rocks and tear gas into the enclosed space. Medics carried at least one bloodied figure away for treatment.
One young demonstrator inside the metro at the time, Alfredo, told AFP he had tried several times to get back up onto the square, amid a cloud of tear gas that left people blinded and disoriented, but was beaten back by a group of men not in uniform.
Television footage Thursday also showed a group of police bikers hurling small rocks and tear gas into a cafe in another part of central Athens.
Greek police "must ensure the use of force is proportionate and directed only at violent demonstrators," Amnesty International's Europe director John Dalhuisen said in a statement on Thursday.
After a 48-hour general strike came to an end, the atmosphere on the streets around the parliament eased significantly on Thursday, although a nationwide 24-hour port strike was to prevent any boat from leaving or landing in Greece.
French mother and daughter Christine and Fabienne Merle, of Macon, told AFP their five-day break had been "ruined" by the hail of tear gas, the closure of museums and now the shipping strike keeping them back in Athens.
European Union leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, hailed the parliament's endorsement for the austerity measures, even before the second vote on the details.
The yes vote was seen as "the only way to buy time and start the great changes this country needs," said Papandreou. He pledged to do "everything to avoid the collapse of this country" and prevent default on its 350-billion-euro debt.
The plan is a condition for 12 billion euros of emergency loans needed by mid-July that could now be unlocked by eurozone finance ministers as early as Sunday.
The government is also committed to privatising a dozen utilities and other public assets to raise 50 billion euros by 2015.
Once the July cashflow needs are met, a second bailout of a similar amount to last year's 110-billion-euro rescue can be thrashed out.
The main sticking point involves how much banks will contribute by way of a "rollover" of existing debts.
European Central Bank executive board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi warned Wednesday of "unprecedented masochism that would cause investors to flee."
