Greece is 'on the Brink of Abyss'

Greece is "on the brink of the abyss," President Karolos Papoulias has warned, after three people died during protests over planned austerity measures.

"We are all responsible so that it does not take the step into the void," the president said in a statement.

It followed a day of violence during which protesters set fire to a bank, killing three employees, reports BBC News.

Greece's government has vowed to pursue the spending cuts – a condition of its 110bn euro bail-out.

"We are prepared to pay the heavy political cost," Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told parliament during Wednesday's debate on the bill. "We will not take a single step backwards."

The euro hit a fresh 13-month low against the dollar and European stock markets were also hit, amid concerns over Greek bail-out plans.

There are also fears Greece's debt crisis could spread to other countries.

The austerity measures - which the Greek parliament is due to vote by the end of the week - include wage freezes, pension cuts and tax rises. They aim to achieve fresh budget cuts of 30bn euros over three years, with the goal of cutting Greece's public deficit to less than 3% of GDP by 2014. It currently stands at 13.6%.