Top-8 Brutal Scenes From Greek Anti-Austerity Protests (VIDEOS)

They've had eight years of austerity, four governments, three bailout programs, a capital full of protesters, and a whole galaxy of Molotov cocktails, flares, riots, and clashes with police. As Greece prepares to exit its third bailout program since 2010, Sputnik takes a look at Greek street protests during almost nine crisis-filled years.

In one particularly violent episode, a mass brawl broke out outside the Ministry of Administrative Reform in Athens in May 2014, as demonstrators were pushed back by riot police.

Some 15,000 protesters swarmed the streets of Athens to rail against planned social security cuts in December 2015. Although the demonstrations were mainly peaceful, at one point a petrol bomb exploded next to a group of police officers.

Syntagma Square in Athens has turned into a focal point for Greek citizens' anger multiple times during the government-debt crisis.

In July 2015, anti-government supporters made bonfires out of European flags and clashed with riot police outside the offices of the European Union (EU) in Athens.

Syntagma Square was swarmed by political activists who threw Molotov cocktails at police lines as Greek politicians voted on the contentious bailout program. Firefighters are seen putting out a white van set alight during the protests.

A general strike called in Greece in November 2015 to protest against austerity measures imposed by the government plunged into street violence as protesters attacked police with flares, while the latter responded with tear gas.

Mass rallies in Athens descended into violence as Greece's parliament voted on further reforms to unlock the EU bailout money in May 2017, with protesters chanting against Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and throwing incendiary flares at police wearing anti-riot gear.

This January, protesters confronted police in front of the Greek Parliament House in Athens as demonstrators decried fresh austerity measures greenlighted by a majority of lawmakers in the parliament.

Since the Greek crisis started in late 2009, the country has racked up a massive debt and pursued strict austerity policies to unlock international emergency loans. In 2015, Greece's creditors — the Eurozone and the IMF — launched a third stability support program in eight years. The bailout, which made up some 86 billion euros, was provided in exchange for austerity measures that included pension cuts and tax increases. It is scheduled to expire on August 20, 2018, but Greece's road to recovery is not over yet.