The Greek Parliament finally gave its concurrence Thursday to hugely unpopular austerity measures amid unrest outside its doors and across the country.

A Reuters report said legislators voted by a slim margin 154 to 144 in favour of the bill. Louka Katseli, a close associate of Prime Minister George Papandreou, voted against a particular article limiting collective wage agreements and was forced out of the ruling PASOK Party.

The government believes that by implementing such measures, it can raise an additional 4.8 billion euro that would enable it to meet the goal of cutting down the huge public debt by at least 4 percent this year.

The Guardian reported before that the measures would include "further cuts in civil servants' annual pay through a 30 percent reduction of bonuses traditionally handed out at Easter and Christmas, a 2 percent increase in VAT, from the current 19 percent; higher taxes on alcohol, tobacco and luxury goods, including cars and yachts, and a freeze on state-funded pensions".

Passage of the package is expected to ensure the release by the European Union and International Monetary Fund of a crucial $11 billion loan portion which the government needs to settle its bills by next month.

As protesters fought police outside Parliament, 74 people were reported to have been taken to hospitals due to injuries and one man died of a heart attack, but police said the death was unrelated.

Papandreou will join the meeting of European leaders on Sunday to try to prevent the euro zone debt crisis from spinning out of control while another summit is also expected to be scheduled for next week.

"We are at a critical point, not only for us but for European history. I have never, in my memory, heard before from leaders of major European countries that there is danger of Europe coming apart," Papandreou told a Cabinet meeting before the vote.

Papandreou's government is caught between lenders demanding strong action and public outrage because of the cuts.

Three years of recession and an enormous public debt has shut Greece out of bond markets.