SPAIN COMES TO A STOP

Madrid.—Police barricaded parliament and other public buildings, and arrested 58 people, many of whom were trying to stop workers crossing picket lines to get to their jobs, as the Spanish mainland ground to halt as a result of the general strike. A handful of scuffles broke out, flights were grounded and groups of union members waving red flags gathered in Madrid. Spaniards have been tolerant of Rajoy's efforts to reform the labour market and meet strict Europe-imposed deficit goals to make sure it does not face a Greek-style debt crisis and in many neighbourhoods it was business as usual. But the strike, the first since September 2010, shows that patience with the three-month-old government may be running out. “This is the largest cut of (workers') rights since anyone can remember. There has to be a better way to get out of this crisis,” UGT union member Marta Lois, 40, said on Madrid's main street Gran Via. Unions said there was 85 percent turnout for the general strike while the centre-right government said the work day was proceeding normally. Workers at auto factories Volkswagen and Renault followed the strike during the nightshift, union Comisiones Obreras said. Data from national grid operator REE showed demand for power was about 20 percent below expected. Transport employees provided a previously agreed basic level of service, meaning one in four buses and about a third of underground and local trains were expected to run but only 10 percent of domestic flights and 20 percent of European flights. Police presence was particularly heavy around parliament where lawmakers were due to debate measures to help heavily indebted local and regional governments pay money owed to suppliers. Spain is now tipping into its second recession since the end of 2009 and some observers expect at least another million people to join already swollen unemployment lines. The jobless rate is the highest in the European Union at 23 percent and almost half of under 25-year-olds are out of work. Polls had predicted only 30 percent of workers would join yesterday's one-day strike against labour reform, but a surprise electoral setback for the ruling People's Party (PP), at two regional elections on Sunday may spur wider participation. “Sunday's election results are a sign that the population won't accept these kinds of reforms ... and could mark the start of a new cycle with more active opposition to policies than we've seen in recent months and year,” economics professor at Spain's Santiago de Compostela University Xavier Vence said. Spain's last general strike in September 2010, had limited impact beyond disruptions in transport and on factory production-lines as Spaniards resigned themselves to the then-Socialist government's austerity drive. Left-leaning political website eldiario.es said this week the strike might help Rajoy in his dealings with European leaders anxious to contain the continent's debt crisis. “If we Spaniards accept this abuse with resignation, apathy and docility, the government won't have the will or the arguments to stand up to Brussels and Berlin,” eldiario.es said.