Greeks protest austerity demands

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s future in the euro grew increasingly precarious Friday as violence erupted on the streets of Athens during a general strike and five politicians resigned from the government after European leaders demanded deeper spending cuts.

Hours after Greece claimed it had reached an agreement among its squabbling party leaders on new cutbacks, European officials dashed any hopes that the country was close to getting its bailout. Finance ministers said more austerity needs to be agreed and set a deadline for the middle of next week.

If Greece’s government fails to meet Europe’s demands, the debt-ridden country faces a chaotic debt default next month that would send shockwaves around the world economy and could doom a generation of Greeks to even deeper hardship.

If it does deliver those demands, Europe has committed to give it a euro130 billion ($172 billion) lifeline that would at least postpone Greece’s day of reckoning.

“No disbursement without implementation,” Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg premier who also chairs the eurozone’s finance ministers’ meetings, said Thursday after they declined to fully back the deal Greek leaders had agreed.