Riot policemen ran through a cloud of tear gas to avoid fire from an exploding petrol bomb. Hundreds of youths wearing ski masks hurled water bottles, firecrackers and other objects at police who responded with tear gas and pepper spray.

Tens of thousands people filled the streets in Athens for a demonstration.

Demonstrators shouted slogans during the protest in Athens. The strike, the second to be called this year, comes just days before the government is due to present Parliament with €26 billion in further spending cuts and tax increases to slash the budget deficit over the next five years.

Transport services also were disrupted, with ferry and rail services suspended after dockworkers joined the strike.

Public transportation around the capital operated on a reduced schedule, and flight operations were hit by a four-hour walkout by air-traffic controllers.

Protesters fought with riot police during the demonstrations.

Journalists also joined in the strike, leading to a blackout of all radio and television news programs.

Protesters lay on the street after clashes with riot police

In May last year, Greece narrowly avoided default with the help of a €110 billion bailout from the EU and the IMF in exchange for measures to cut its bloated budget deficit and reform its economy.

A demonstrator kicked a riot police.

Riot police clashed with demonstrators. Much of the spending cuts would come from reducing wage costs in the public sector, cuts in operating expenses at state-owned enterprises, and reduced defense and health-care spending.

Demonstrators are arrested by riot police

A protester with his face covered in blood looked on during the clashes

A recent public opinion poll shows that Greece's socialist government enjoys some measure of support among the wider public for its reforms, which are seen as correcting decades of stifling overregulation in the economy and mismanagement in the public sector.