Hours after police and demonstrators clashed in central Athens, Greek lawmakers on Thursday approved austerity measures that were overwhelmingly rejected by their citizens just days ago. 
 
 The vote represented a stark turnabout for the government, and it was the price Greece’s lenders demanded for saving the country from a whirlwind of economic turmoil. It was a stunning defeat for populist forces that have pushed for a break from years of grinding cuts that powerhouse economies led by Germany have enforced as the key to growth. 
 
 In the new topsy-turvy reality, leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was tasked with advocating a stricter version of the austerity he has long opposed. In a sign of his new weakness, 40 of the 149 lawmakers from his Syriza party abandoned him, saying their nation was taking more of the same toxic medicine that had forced it into five years of penury. The defections threatened the stability of his rule, raising the specter of fresh elections and even more economic turmoil. 
 
 In the short term, the adoption of the new measures was a milestone on the road toward European approval of an up to $96 billion bailout, sparing Greece from surefire bankruptcy and its ouster from the shared euro currency. Already, banks have been closed for more than two weeks. With a dearth of cash to fuel basic transactions, Greece’s economy is slowly suffocating under the pressure. 
 
 Greek leaders were stuck Wednesday urging the approval of measures to which they could offer only tepid support, acknowledging that they may send their country into deeper recession. 
 
 1 of 31 Full Screen Autoplay Close July 13, 2015 Skip Ad × Police and demonstrators clash in Central Athens View Photos Hours after police and demonstrators clashed in central Athens, Greek lawmakers early Thursday morning approved austerity measures that were overwhelmingly rejected by their citizens just days ago Caption Hours after police and demonstrators clashed in central Athens, Greek lawmakers early Thursday morning approved austerity measures that were overwhelmingly rejected by their citizens just days ago. July 16, 2015 A bank employee distributes tags with queue positions to pensioners as they wait to withdraw a maximum of 120 euros ($134) in central Athens from the bank. Emilio Morenatti/AP Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 Greeks “can understand the difference between those who fight with their soul in battle and resist, and those who hand in their weapons and give up with no resistance,” Tsipras told lawmakers in a speech capping the contentious late-night debate. “The outcome of these negotiations is of course not what we wanted.” 
 
 The defectors included several members of Tsipras’s cabinet. Among the outcomes from the split could be the fall of Tsipras’s government and possible new elections — with all the fresh complications they could bring if anti-bailout forces gain ground. At a minimum, Tsipras will be tasked with implementing unpopular measures with a greatly weakened base of support. In the end, 229 of the 300 members of the Parliament supported the bailout laws, but much of the support came from opposition parties. 
 
 As lawmakers hurled insults at one another ahead of the vote, anti-austerity protesters and riot police traded molotov cocktails and tear gas outside Greece’s neoclassical Parliament building, the worst such confrontation in years. 
 
 Such clashes were a regular feature of anti-austerity demonstrations during the early years of Greece’s debt crisis. But recently they have been rare, and this was the first of any significance since Syriza came to power in January. 
 
 There was powerful symbolism in the half-hour burst of violence, with Tsipras and his partners — who not long ago were manning the barricades against the authorities — now overseeing the crackdown on their anti-austerity base. 
 
 Thursday’s vote capped weeks of turmoil that started when Tsipras walked away from bailout negotiations late last month and called a snap referendum that handed the choice of austerity to the Greek people. 
 
 The decision sparked a bank run, shuttered banks and ushered in a new cash-poor reality after limits of 60 euros, about $67, were imposed on daily ATM withdrawals. Greeks rejected the austerity demands by a landslide, but Europe refused to budge. Tsipras had to capitulate or be kicked off the euro. His surrender was the culmination of a 17-hour slugfest that ended early Monday morning. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yanis Varoufakis, who stepped down as finance minister last week, threw his lot with the dissenters. 
 
 “How can I possibly vote ‘yes’ to monsters and the new Versailles Treaty?” he said in reference to the peace accord that ended World War I and imposed harsh terms on the losers. 
 
 Even Greece’s creditors have split over the best path for the struggling Mediterranean nation. A scathing International Monetary Fund report released Tuesday concluded that Greece’s debts are unsustainable even with its third rescue package in five years — which will require further spending cuts for the country’s battered economy. The report suggests a 30-year grace period for repayment. 
 
 “No matter what form it takes . . . one way has to be found in order to release the burden and allow the country to demonstrate that it can be back on a sustainable path,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told CNN on Wednesday. 
 
 Greece’s European lenders have opposed significant debt relief. Germany has held the hardest line of all, although a Finance Ministry spokesman on Wednesday cracked the door to a limited delay to when Greece must repay what it owes to its lenders. 
 
 The bailout package approved by parliamentarians early Thursday includes many of the measures repudiated by voters less than two weeks ago in the referendum. They include tax hikes on businesses and individuals, pension cuts and aggressive budget surplus targets that will keep government spending lean for years to come. 
 
 Even with the approval, however, Greece’s economic future remains in limbo. Germany’s Parliament must give its own endorsement of the agreement in a Friday vote, even as opposition to another Greek bailout rises in Berlin. Several other euro-zone countries will hold parliamentary votes. 
 
 European finance ministers, meanwhile, need to figure out a mechanism to provide Greece with enough emergency funding to cover its debts for the next several weeks while details of the bailout agreement are being negotiated. Most pressing is a Monday deadline for a 3.5 billion euro payment due to the European Central Bank. 
 
 Demonstrators in Athens on Wednesday expressed disappointment that the government had not used the leverage gained from the referendum on Europe’s bailout proposals to win more favorable terms. 
 
 “We voted ‘no’ in the referendum. But now it’s like we said ‘yes,’ ” said Vassilis, a 33-year-old engineer and anarchist who declined to give his last name for fear of attracting attention from the authorities. 
 
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 Ylan Q. Mui in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek lawmakers voted overwhelmingly early Thursday to approve a harsh austerity bill demanded by bailout creditors, despite significant dissent from members of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' left-wing party. 
 
 Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras delivers a speech during a parliament meeting in Athens, Thursday, July 16, 2015. Greece's Parliament has approved an austerity bill demanded by bailout creditors,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras delivers a speech during a parliament meeting in Athens, Thursday, July 16, 2015. Greece's Parliament has approved an austerity bill demanded by bailout creditors,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Anti-austerity protesters clash with riot police during a rally in Athens, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Greece has a tentative rescue deal, but relief that it is not falling out of the euro is unlikely... (Associated Press) 
 
 Members of the Communist-affiliated PAME labor union march during an anti-austerity rally in Athens, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Greece has a tentative rescue deal, but relief that it is not falling out... (Associated Press) 
 
 Members of the Communist-affiliated PAME labor union shout slogans during an anti-austerity rally in Athens, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Greece has a tentative rescue deal, but relief that it is not falling... (Associated Press) 
 
 Members of the Communist-affiliated PAME labor union hold a banner reading ''Memorandum'' during an anti-austerity rally at Omonia square in Athens, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Greece has a tentative rescue... (Associated Press) 
 
 Members of the Communist-affiliated PAME labor union gather during an anti-austerity rally at Omonia square in Athens, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Greece has a tentative rescue deal, but relief that it... (Associated Press) 
 
 Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, arrives for a meeting with lawmakers of Syriza governing party as Parliament speaker Zoi Konstantopoulou applauds him in Athens, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Tsipras... (Associated Press) 
 
 Riot police try to avoid petrol bombs during clashes in Athens, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Greece has a tentative rescue deal, but relief that it is not falling out of the euro is unlikely to last long:... (Associated Press) 
 
 Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras votes during a parliament meeting in Athens, Thursday, July 16, 2015. Greece's Parliament has approved an austerity bill demanded by bailout creditors, despite a... (Associated Press) 
 
 Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras attends a meeting with lawmakers of Syriza governing party at the Greek Parliament in Athens, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Tsipras faced a rising wave of hostility... (Associated Press) 
 
 Riot police is on fire try as anti-austerity protesters throw petrol bombs during clashes in Athens, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Greece has a tentative rescue deal, but relief that it is not falling out... (Associated Press) 
 
 Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reacts during a parliament meeting in Athens, Thursday, July 16, 2015. Greece's Parliament has approved an austerity bill demanded by bailout creditors, despite... (Associated Press) 
 
 Riot police is on fire as anti-austerity protesters throw petrol bombs during clashes in Athens, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Greece has a tentative rescue deal, but relief that it is not falling out of... (Associated Press) 
 
 Riot police try to avoid petrol bombs thrown by anti-austerity protesters during clashes in Athens, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Greece has a tentative rescue deal, but relief that it is not falling out... (Associated Press) 
 
 Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, right, and Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos react as they attend a parliament meeting in Athens, Thursday, July 16, 2015. Greece's Parliament has approved an... (Associated Press) 
 
 The bill has fueled anger in the governing Syriza party and led to a revolt by party members against the prime minister, who has insisted the deal forged after a marathon weekend eurozone summit was the best he could do to prevent Greece from catastrophically crashing out of Europe's joint currency. 
 
 The bill, which imposes sweeping tax hikes and spending cuts, was approved with 229 votes in favor, 64 against and six abstentions — and with the support of three pro-European opposition parties. 
 
 Prominent Syriza party members were among the 38 dissenters, including Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis and former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who many blame for exacerbating tensions with Greece's creditors with his abrasive style during five months of tortured negotiations. 
 
 The vote came after an anti-austerity demonstration by about 12,000 protesters outside parliament degenerated into violence as the debate was getting underway Wednesday night. Riot police battled youths who hurled petrol bombs for about an hour before the clashes died down. 
 
 The bill was the first step Greece must take in order to begin negotiations with creditors on a new bailout — its third in five years — of about 85 billion euros ($93 billion) in loans over three years. 
 
 Dissenters argued that Greeks could not face any further cuts after six years of recession that saw poverty and unemployment skyrocket and wiped out a quarter of the country's economy. 
 
 Tsipras has been battling all week to persuade party hard-liners to back the deal. He has acknowledged the agreement reached with creditors was far from what he wanted and trampled on his pre-election promises of repealing austerity, but insisted the alternative would have been far worse for the country. 
 
 "We had a very specific choice: A deal we largely disagreed with, or a chaotic default," he told parliament ahead of the vote. 
 
 Tsipras had urged Syriza members to back the bill despite having urged voters to reject earlier, milder creditor demands in a July 5 referendum. Greeks voted overwhelmingly to reject those proposals. 
 
 Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, who took over from Varoufakis the day after the referendum, said the deal Greece reached with its creditors on Monday was the only possible choice. 
 
 "I must tell you, that Monday morning at 9:30, it was the most difficult day of my life. It was a decision that will weigh on me for the rest of my life," Tsakalotos said. 
 
 "I don't know if we did the right thing. But I know we did something with the sense that we had no choice. Nothing was certain and nothing is," he told parliament. 
 
 High-ranking dissenters included Alternate Finance Minister Nadia Valavani, who resigned from her post earlier Wednesday, saying she could not vote in favor of the bill. 
 
 In a letter sent to Tsipras on Monday and released by the finance ministry Wednesday, Valavani said she believed "dominant circles in Germany" were intent on "the full humiliation of the government and the country." 
 
 The economy ministry's secretary general, Manos Manousakis, also resigned over the measures. 
 
 Parliament speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou, a prominent Syriza member, slammed the deal as a product of blackmail, calling it a "crime against humanity" and "social genocide." 
 
 Thursday's vote came after more than two weeks of capital controls, with Greek banks and the stock exchange shut since June 29 and ATM cash withdrawals limited to 60 euros per day. 
 
 With its banks dangerously low on liquidity and the state practically out of cash, Greece desperately needs funds. It faces a Monday deadline to repay 4.2 billion euros ($4.6 billion) to the European Central Bank, and is also in arrears on 2 billion euros to the IMF. 
 
 Negotiations on the new bailout will take an estimated four weeks, leaving European finance ministers scrambling to find ways to get Athens some money sooner. 
 
 The European Commission has proposed giving Greece 7 billion euros in loans from a special fund overseen by all 28 EU nations so it can meet its upcoming debts. The loan would be made pending the start of a full bailout program, but faces resistance from Britain, a non-euro member of the EU. 
 
 Germany argued one way for Greece to meet its financing obligations was for it to issue IOUs for domestic needs. 
 
 ____ 
 
 Raf Casert in Brussels and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report. ||||| A tourist stands under a Greek national flag at the Monastiraki area in Athens, Greece July 14, 2015. 
 
 The Greek Parliament is seen through a banner held by a protester during an anti-austerity rally organized by the country's biggest public sector union ADEDY in Athens, Greece July 15, 2015. 
 
 Greek Presidential guards conduct their ceremonial march past a banner held by protesters during an anti-austerity rally organized by the country's biggest public sector union ADEDY in Athens, Greece July 15, 2015. 
 
 Anti-Euro protesters march through the streets during an anti-austerity rally in Athens, Greece July 15, 2015. 
 
 Riot police stand amongst the flames from exploded petrol bombs thrown by a small group of anti-establishment demonstrators in front of parliament in Athens, Greece July 15, 2015. 
 
 Riot police stand amongst the flames from exploded petrol bombs thrown by a small group of anti-establishment demonstrators in front of parliament in Athens, Greece July 15, 2015. 
 
 A protester bleeds as he is arrested by riot police following clashes in Athens, Greece July 15, 2015. 
 
 Riot police stand amongst the flames from exploded petrol bombs thrown by a small group of anti-austerity demonstrators in front of parliament in Athens, Greece July 15, 2015. 
 
 Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (R) sits next to Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos (L) as he attends a parliamentary session in Athens, Greece July 15, 2015. 
 
 ATHENS The Greek parliament passed a sweeping package of austerity measures demanded by European partners as the price for opening talks on a multi-billion euro bailout package needed to keep the near-bankrupt country in the euro zone. 
 
 The vote followed a stormy debate in which dozens of lawmakers on the left of the ruling Syriza party rebelled against Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and opposed the package, which passed with the support of opposition parties. 
 
 The package passed with 229 votes in favor in the 300-seat chamber but 38 Syriza lawmakers abstained or voted against the government, including former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and the current Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, Deputy Labour Minister Dimitris Stratoulis and speaker of parliament Zoe Constantopoulou. 
 
 The result opens the way for talks on a third bailout to begin with European partners, but leaves the future of the leftist Tsipras government unclear following the split in his party ranks. 
 
 (Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Angeliki Koutantou; writing by James Mackenzie)
– Greece keeps inching toward its convoluted bailout: Lawmakers have approved an austerity package demanded by European creditors, reports Reuters. This time, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras endorsed them, despite having championed a referendum that shot down a similar package less than two weeks ago. He had to face down a revolt in his own party, and his former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, was among the 38 dissenters, reports AP. One major hurdle remains, reports the New York Times. The International Monetary Fund said yesterday that it makes little sense to give Greece yet another loan without substantial debt relief—perhaps even a 30-year grace period, notes the Washington Post. Germany and other nations strenuously object to that, but the IMF position is increasing pressure on them to bend, "providing some hope to Greeks that they will have a new ally in debt talks," says the Times.