Hundreds of youths smashed and looted stores inbr central Athens and clashed with riot police during a massive anti-governmentbr rally against painful new austerity measures that won initial parliamentarybr approval in a vote Wednesay night.br The rioting came on the first day of a 48-hour nationwide general strikebr that brought services in much of Greece to a standstill, grounding flightsbr for hours, leaving ferries tied up in port and shutting down customs offices,br stores and banks.br br Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reports from Athens.