By Renee Maltezou
ATHENS (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas at dozens of hooded youths hurling petrol bombs and stones outside parliament on Tuesday ahead of a vote on the 2012 budget that spells more belt-tightening for austerity-hit Greeks.
Hundreds of youths marched in central Athens to mark the police shooting of a student in 2008, which sparked the country's worst riots in decades and helped topple the conservative government in power at the time.
Police were pelted with pieces of broken pavement, wooden sticks and petrol bombs for nearly an hour outside parliament before the protesters were dispersed.
Small groups set garbage containers on fire and smashed some shop and bank windows in other areas. At least 10 people were slightly injured, police said.
The turnout was lower than similar protests in previous years and other more recent demonstrations that drew tens of thousands of people on to the streets. Another march was planned for 1600 GMT.
Many of the marchers chanted slogans against austerity measures prescribed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund -- the debt-choked country's international lenders -- and held up banners like "Social Revolution Now" as they marched to parliament.
Minor clashes also broke out between protesters and police in other parts of Athens and in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
"There is a silent anger, something like an undertow, and this is dangerous," said Mary Bossis, professor of International Security at the University of Piraeus. "I expect more people to join the second march, which will probably be more violent."
The clashes came ahead of a late-night parliamentary vote on the 2012 budget, a package of tax hikes and spending cuts aimed at cutting the deficit to 6.7 percent of GDP next year from 9 percent this year.
Despite the social tensions, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, a technocrat named last month to lead the country until early polls in February, is expected to win the vote easily given the broad backing his national unity coalition enjoys in parliament.
It comes days after the country secured a tranche of aid needed to avoid bankruptcy after weeks of uncertainty.
Since the country's debt crisis erupted in 2009, Greeks have repeatedly staged protests against austerity, which has helped push the country into a fourth year of recession and driven youth unemployment to a record high of more than 43 percent.
Most Greeks expect their economic situation to worsen next year as the government applies austerity policies to slash deficits, but they want to stay in the euro zone despite the pain, a poll by GPO showed on Monday.
"We must solve these problems which undermine social cohesion and hurt hundreds of thousands of young people," Labour Minister George Koutroumanis told lawmakers.
"There are no magic solutions. But in 2012 we must try to bring back growth and investments that will create more jobs."
In 2008, thousands of youths angry over unemployment and political graft battled police for weeks after 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot dead.
They trashed shops, attacked public buildings and burned cars, making central Athens look like a war zone for weeks.
(Additional reporting by Yannis Behrakis; Editing by Deepa Babington)
