Thousands protest in Athens over cuts Thousands of striking Greek workers have marched to parliament to demonstrate against wage cuts included in a new €3.3bn austerity package that eurozone finance ministers rejected as incomplete on Thursday. Despite the protests, during which some people clashed with riot police, the cabinet is due to endorse the measures later in the day. Greece's lenders have demanded an extra €325m of budget savings in 2012, parliamentary approval of the overall package and pledges from political leaders they will continue reforms after the April election, in return for a €130bn bail-out to avoid a disorderly default next month. The finance ministers" new demands proved too much for George Karatzaferis, head of the LAOS party - a far-right minority member of the unity government. "I explained to the other political leaders that I cannot vote for this loan agreement," Mr Karatzaferis told a news conference on Friday afternoon. His party has only 16 deputies in the 300-seat Greek parliament, meaning his refusal to vote in favour would not prevent the bail-out agreement from being passed in parliament, which is due to meet on Sunday. The protests and Mr Karatzaferis's decision dented market sentiment on Friday. Stocks were down across Europe, with the benchmark index in Athens 1.8 per cent lower in early afternoon trading. The 48-hour wildcat strike, called by Greece's two largest trade unions, shut down government offices, schools, state banks, and island ferry services and disrupted public transport in the capital. A battery of loudspeakers outside the finance ministry urged: "Rebel now, keep striking, don't give in," as protesters streamed into central Syntagma square. "We don't have much more to lose," said Stavros, a 28-year-old architect as he sprayed graffiti on a shuttered department store. Six years studying, another doing military service and no chance of a job...What can you expect? A government official said work was under way to cover the €325m shortfall that prompted an angry reaction at Thursday's eurogroup meeting "by Sunday night or Monday." Parliament would approve the package in a single session on Sunday, he said. Evangelos Venizelos, the finance minister, came under attack at the Brussels meeting not only on the budget cuts but over Greece's sustained failure to deliver on structural and fiscal reforms, from improving tax collection to implementing a €50bn privatisation plan, according to Athens media. "It's a time of difficult decisions, we have to choose between sacrifices and even greater sacrifices," Mr Venizelos said, adding that the eurogroup wanted leaders of the three political parties in the national unity government to "provide written verbal and wholehearted commitments to implementing the programme." The government official said further cuts would be made in defence and local government, which have access to extra subsidies and revenue streams, in order to meet the European Union deadline. Experts from the "troika" - from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - would return to Athens over the weekend to assist Mr Venizelos and his team, he said. In Brussels, officials insisted that the onus was now on Greek political leaders, and the country's parliament, to solidify the deal. José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, expressed hope that an agreement would be sealed in the coming days. "I am confident that a solution will be reached next week as this is critically important for Greece and the Greek citizens first and foremost but also for the whole euro area," he said on the sidelines of an EU-India summit in New Delhi. I therefore call on the responsibility and the leadership of the Greek leaders and all members of the eurozone so that we can obtain this goal.