A leader of Greece's governing coalition pushed back againstGerman demands for deeper budget cuts to get the bailout needed toprevent a financial collapse.

In Athens, unions struck for the second time this week andpolice used tear gas to counter protesters. George Karatzaferis,who heads one of the three parties supporting interim PrimeMinister Lucas Papademos, said he wouldn't support austeritymeasures worked out for a rescue. He spoke hours after GermanFinance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told lawmakers in Berlin thatGreece was missing deficit targets.

“What has particularly bothered me is the humiliation of thecountry,” Karatzaferis, whose Laos party has 16 members in the300-seat parliament, said in televised comments. “Clearly Greececan't and shouldn't do without the European Union but it could dowithout the German boot.”