Rioters set fire to 45 buildings in Athens

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos won parliamentary approval early yesterday for the spending cuts needed to secure an international bailout of 130 billion euros ($172 billion).
The measures equal about seven percent of gross domestic product over three years and include a debt swap that would shave 100 billion euros off more than 200 billion euros of privately held debt. Greece was granted its first aid package of 110 billion euros in May 2010.
A total of 170 businesses in Athens suffered attacks during the protests, the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry said yesterday in a statement on its website. Initial estimates put the cost of damage to buildings and equipment as well as from theft at tens of millions of euros, the Athens-based chamber said.
It added that seventeen banks, four bookstores, five department stores and shopping malls and 70 clothing and footware shops were among businesses that suffered damage.
Several national heritage sites were burned including a neoclassical building from 1870-1881, designed by German architect Ernst Ziller, which was gutted by fire, according to an e-mailed statement from the Athens City Hall.
The ground floor of an art deco building dating from the 1920s that was the site of a branch of Alpha Bank SA was completely destroyed by fire. Athens City cleaning services collected 40 metric tons of broken marble and stone that rioters hacked from streets and sidewalks.
Police arrested 67 people for attacking security forces with gasoline bombs and stones and damaging buildings and shops as well as for looting. Another 75 people were detained for questioning, according to a statement posted yesterday on the Greek police website. – AP.