SPAIN: Picketers block entrance to Madrid train station, shops

Record ID: 341042

  • Title: SPAIN: Picketers block entrance to Madrid train station, shops
  • Date: 14th November 2012
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (NOVEMBER 14, 2012) (REUTERS) INSIDE ATOCHA STATION, PROTESTERS MARCHING WITH FLAGS RIOT POLICE WALKING PAST PROTESTERS RIOT POLICE BLOCKING DOOR PICKETERS AND POLICE FACING EACH OTHER UNION LEADER CHANTING "STRIKE!" PICKETERS PUSHING POLICE UNION LEADERS AND POLICE PUSHING EACH OTHER OUTSIDE, GROUP OF CYCLISTS HOLDING CYCLING DEMONSTRATION CYCLISTS BLOCKING
  • Embargoed: 29th November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Economy,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9IMT1YG0FCPKVFTK6JKWK1Q30
  • Story Text: A general strike triggers a face-off between picketers and riot police at Madrid's central train station.

    Picketers jostled with police at a demonstration at Madrid's central train station on Wednesday (November 14), as millions of workers joined strikes across southern Europe to protest against spending cuts and tax hikes that trade unions say have brought misery and deepened the region's economic crisis.
    Spanish and Portuguese workers were holding their first co-ordinated general strike and unions in Greece, Italy, France, Belgium also planned work stoppages or demonstrations as part of a "European Day of Action and Solidarity".
    Transport disruptions left several passengers stranded as only 20 percent of Spain's long-distance trains and a third of its commuter trains were expected to run on Wednesday.
    Cyclists demonstrating outside Madrid's Atocha train station, chanted "Strike!" and blocked road traffic.
    In Barcelona, picketers blocked the entrance of Spanish general store, El Corte Ingles.
    "They are taking all our rights away, all our rights. The banks and other business people are bringing us onto the streets, they are stealing our salaries. We don't have any rights anymore. It seems that we work like foreigners," demonstrator Conrado said.
    Spain's economy, the euro zone's fourth biggest, will shrink by some 1.5 percent this year, four years after the crash of a decade-long building boom left airports, highways and high-rise buildings disused across the country.
    Spanish unions have never held two general strikes in one year before. The previous one in March brought factories and ports to a standstill and ignited flashes of street violence.
    Every week seems to bring fresh job cuts. Spain's flagship airline Iberia, owned by UK-based International Airlines Group, said last week it will cut 4,500 jobs. The prestigious El Pais newspaper just laid off almost a quarter of its staff.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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