Greeks furious over austerity bill

>>> overseas, greece is cleaning up from a night of violence. some awful fires and fights afsh the greek parliament passed an austerity bill a lot of greeks are furious about. stephanie gosk is in athens for us tonight. stephanie , good evening.

>> reporter: good evening, brian. the greek parliament did exactly what the euro zone wanted them to do. they passed these budget cuts so they could get a much-needed $170 billion rescue package what they didn't do was convince the tens of thousands of people that hit the streets that this was in their best interest. riot police last night faced off against an angry mob on the steps of the parliament. dodging rocks and fire bombs. responding with billy clubs and canister after canister of tear gas . as parliament approved this slashing of government jobs and dramatic reduction in minimum wage, athens burned. stores were trashed and looted. flames engulfed dozens of building, including an historic cinema, which today was still smoldering. the cleanup began early, but there will be lasting scars.

>> the answer isn't to break everything here. is to fight against the government without burning and destroying the city.

>> reporter: it's hard to imagine how destroying small businesses like this one could be a solution to greece 's economic problems.

>> something like 2,000 euros, mack books and everything is ruined there right now.

>> reporter: it's becoming a vicious cycle. this country needs help from the euro zone , but the only way it gets that help is with budget cuts. the cuts lead to this. the government has failed to explain the crisis to the public. this member of parliament told us --

>> they're not completely aware if they're suffering because of the crisis or suffering because of the medicine, which is the measures of austerity that we've been passing.

>> reporter: and there is likely more economic pain to come.

>> it doesn't help greece that just the kind of more competitive economy that it needs.

>> reporter: the fear in greece and all over europe is that the fires will keep burning. the rescue package is not a done deal. european finance ministers are meeting in brussels on wednesday. some want to ask greek officials directly how they plan to enact some of these reforms. brian?

>> stephanie gosk in athens tonight. scary weekend there over the