Additions
Yeah and lots of people were on strike too...
30.03.2012 02:22
Pics of all the days events - strike, blockades, pickets, marches, burning etc. All taken from libcom.org
http://libcom.org/forums/news/fresh-general-strike-greece-unions-moot-general-strike-spain-13052010?page=10#comment-475398
MercaSevilla shut by more than a thousand pickets, some trouble with the police
100% strike by the rubbish collectors in Cadiz
pickets going round closing bars at midnight
Jaen- 100 pickets make sure the post service is closed. Police search and arrest pickets.
1 am seville 70% of the night shift at Renault is on strike
2 am three arrests in Malaga of young pickets trying to close down bars
Pickets from the 15-M movement in Seville go round Triana closing bars
4:45 am Cordoba MercaCordoba not a single lorry enters. Three arrests.
8 am University of Seville 100% on strike
Students blocked the main road into Madrid this morning causing a massive fuck-off traffic jam..
Also big transport and airline strikes by the sound of things..
Madrid- lot of police charges, people injured and arrested.
According to Soli Obrera the strike in the transport sector has been very strong.
There was a "bicipicket" of 200 cyclists going round the M30 motorway at nine in the morning blocking the motorway!
In the bus stations pickets "sabotaging" (don't know if breaking, painting over or what) windscreens of buses, these buses have had to stop running.
Electricity consumption lower than the last strike which means less industry running.
Police charges in the bus depots with horses, pickets arrested.
12 people arrested last night on pickets in Madrid
http://libcom.org/forums/news/fresh-general-strike-greece-unions-moot-general-strike-spain-13052010?page=10#comment-475386
Young picket badly injured by police in Vitoria
Union lawyers say they don't know how many people have been arrested as the police are not letting them speak to people but that it is a lot more than last time.
La Rioja- strike is much stronger than last time. Only two newspapers for sale and pickets trying to stop distribution of those.
Madrid- very few people have gone to work in RTVE (buses) hardly any buses are running. A security guard threatened pickets with an iron bar.
(I think these are towns near Madrid or barrios of Madrid)
Carabanchel- two pickets arrested at Mercadona
Alcorcon- police threaten pickets at gunpoint. At midnight about 150 people picketing bus depot and stopping servicios minimos from leaving. Someone was filming pickets, they demanded to see some identification, this person refused, police then started shoving elderly pickets and arrested a younger picket who tried to defend them. The pickets gathered round and the police pulled out their guns. The police continued harrasing the pickets violently throughout the morning. Later pickets went to ALcampo where they had heard that the company was threatening workers if they went on strike. There were a lot of police waiting at ALcampo.
People said they couldn't ever remember such a strong strike in Alcorcon and they also remarked on the aggression of the police which was much worse that 2010 (which was no picnic either, translator's note)
Madrid- strike "massive" in industrial sector, much bigger than last time.
Ports shut down in Valencia, Algeciras, Vigo, Barcelona.
Burning barricades in Seville.
Useful post on Spain as the next Greece:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/29/eurozone-crisis-spanish-general-strike#block-29
http://libcom.org/forums/news/fresh-general-strike-greece-unions-moot-general-strike-spain-13052010?page=10#comment-475398 MercaSevilla shut by more than a thousand pickets, some trouble with the police
100% strike by the rubbish collectors in Cadiz
pickets going round closing bars at midnight
Jaen- 100 pickets make sure the post service is closed. Police search and arrest pickets.
1 am seville 70% of the night shift at Renault is on strike
2 am three arrests in Malaga of young pickets trying to close down bars
Pickets from the 15-M movement in Seville go round Triana closing bars
4:45 am Cordoba MercaCordoba not a single lorry enters. Three arrests.
8 am University of Seville 100% on strike
Students blocked the main road into Madrid this morning causing a massive fuck-off traffic jam..
Also big transport and airline strikes by the sound of things..
Madrid- lot of police charges, people injured and arrested.
According to Soli Obrera the strike in the transport sector has been very strong.
There was a "bicipicket" of 200 cyclists going round the M30 motorway at nine in the morning blocking the motorway!
In the bus stations pickets "sabotaging" (don't know if breaking, painting over or what) windscreens of buses, these buses have had to stop running.
Electricity consumption lower than the last strike which means less industry running.
Police charges in the bus depots with horses, pickets arrested.
12 people arrested last night on pickets in Madrid
http://libcom.org/forums/news/fresh-general-strike-greece-unions-moot-general-strike-spain-13052010?page=10#comment-475386 Young picket badly injured by police in Vitoria
Union lawyers say they don't know how many people have been arrested as the police are not letting them speak to people but that it is a lot more than last time.
La Rioja- strike is much stronger than last time. Only two newspapers for sale and pickets trying to stop distribution of those.
Madrid- very few people have gone to work in RTVE (buses) hardly any buses are running. A security guard threatened pickets with an iron bar.
(I think these are towns near Madrid or barrios of Madrid)
Carabanchel- two pickets arrested at Mercadona
Alcorcon- police threaten pickets at gunpoint. At midnight about 150 people picketing bus depot and stopping servicios minimos from leaving. Someone was filming pickets, they demanded to see some identification, this person refused, police then started shoving elderly pickets and arrested a younger picket who tried to defend them. The pickets gathered round and the police pulled out their guns. The police continued harrasing the pickets violently throughout the morning. Later pickets went to ALcampo where they had heard that the company was threatening workers if they went on strike. There were a lot of police waiting at ALcampo.
People said they couldn't ever remember such a strong strike in Alcorcon and they also remarked on the aggression of the police which was much worse that 2010 (which was no picnic either, translator's note)
Madrid- strike "massive" in industrial sector, much bigger than last time.
Ports shut down in Valencia, Algeciras, Vigo, Barcelona.
Burning barricades in Seville.
Useful post on Spain as the next Greece:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/29/eurozone-crisis-spanish-general-strike#block-29
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Comments
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More of what happened
30.03.2012 17:15
In fact, pickets in this strike have been much more widespread than in sept. 2010. Social movements and anticapitalits have learned that lesson. So, we had in every town a convergence between traditional unionism and social movements.
Afaik, in Zaragoza the numbers of the 'critic' bloc has been about 15,000-20,000; the biggest demo of this kind since 70s. The demo was called by CGT, CNT, SOA and intersindical, and backed by many popular collectives in the city.
But in Madrid and Barcelona the anticapitalists blocs brought together around 10-15-20,000 each. it's difficult to calculate. In Madrid a separate CNT demo was joined by more than 2000 people. A demo in Salamanca called by CNT had the same number (which is amazing for Salamanca).
This numbers come not for the support to determined union (be it radical or anarchosyndicalist) but for the will of people to express their anger against government and the rejection to mainstream unions. That's why the 15M people choose to join anticapitalist demos instead of been a bloc in the official demos.
Anyway, in some cities cnt have won dozens of members in just a few days.
and everybody talks that this is the first step, the first strike. Thought, this strike have been far away from paralizing the economy."
A few further thoughts:
In Madrid I'd say about half of the retail shops that I saw were closed, even outside of the center. Even some international chains like Pizza Hut were closed, but all of the Starbucks, McDonald's etc that I saw were open. For most of the day Sol was filled with 15-M type people, and they were going around and picketing shops until they closed.
At least in the center, businesses that stayed open got their windows covered with stickers, and quite a few were spray-painted, etc. - businesses that closed were relatively untouched. I mention this not to fetishize damaging windows or anything like that, but because the sheer number of stickers implies that this was a popular and spontaneous activity (perhaps some of the Spanish posters can say whether this is already a tradition in Spain).
Loads of info here and pics and analysis here
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