GREEK police have clashed with protesters as the troubled nation came under intense pressure to force through extra cuts in return for a giant bailout deal said to be just days away.

But after recent heavy falls, the markets in Europe and the United States rallied at the news that the deal was close to being finalised.

Police fired tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators trying to approach the finance ministry in Athens in protest at austerity cuts aimed at cutting Greece’s budget deficit.

“Around 500 people were demonstrating and some of them tried to break through a police cordon guarding the ministry,” a police source said.

Greece is bracing for a wave of strikes and work stoppages in the coming days, including a general strike on May 5, as talks on a bailout from Europe and the International Monetary Fund come to a head.

Prime Minister George Papandreou meanwhile warned Greece was in “a battle for survival” and would complete talks on getting tens of billions of euros from the EU and IMF “in coming days”.

“We will do whatever it takes to save the country,” he said.

The bailout is deeply unpopular in Greece because of the harsh conditions that many believe will be imposed on ordinary people.

The government however says it needs the money by May 19 in order to avoid a devastating debt default.
Investors gave Greece some respite on the financial markets after the EU’s commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, said the marathon talks with Greece were “about to conclude”.