Hundreds of youths smashed and looted stores in<br />central Athens and clashed with riot police during a massive anti-government<br />rally against painful new austerity measures that won initial parliamentary<br />approval in a vote Wednesay night.<br />The rioting came on the first day of a 48-hour nationwide general strike<br />that brought services in much of Greece to a standstill, grounding flights<br />for hours, leaving ferries tied up in port and shutting down customs offices,<br />stores and banks.<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reports from Athens.
