Picketers from workers' and trade unions shout slogans at Atocha rail station during a 24-hour nationwide general strike in Madrid, Nov. 14, 2012. Spanish and Portuguese workers staged the first co-ordinated strike across the Iberian peninsula on Wednesday, shutting down transport, grounding flights and closing schools to protest austerity measures and tax hikes.PAUL HANNA/Reuters
Police and protesters clashed in Spain and Italy on Wednesday as millions of workers went on strike in organized labour's biggest Europe-wide challenge to austerity policies since the euro zone debt crisis erupted three years ago.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled, schools were shut, factories were at a standstill and trains barely ran in Spain and Portugal where unions held their first joint general strike. Stoppages in Belgium interrupted international rail services.
Workers also protested in Greece and France against austerity policies that have taken a heavy economic toll and aggravated mass unemployment. But the demonstrations organized by the European Trade Union Confederation seemed unlikely to force hard-pressed governments to change their cost-cutting strategies.
In Spain, 110 people were arrested – including two allegedly with material to make explosives – after confrontations at picket lines and damage to storefronts. Riot police fired rubber bullets at protesters in central Madrid in one brief clash.
Even non-union workers joined protests and marches. "This isn't about politics or unions. This is social and economic. If we have to shut down the country we'll shut it down," said 24-year-old Mariluz Gordillo, a non-unionized phone operator at El Corte Ingles department store.
In Rome scuffles broke out between police in riot gear and demonstrators who threw stones, bottles and fireworks at police. About 60 demonstrators were detained. Protesters occupied Pisa's mediaeval leaning tower for an hour, hanging a banner reading "Rise up. We are not paying for your crisis".
In Portugal and Greece – both rescued with European funds and under strict austerity programs – the economic downturn sharpened in the third quarter, data showed in Wednesday.
Portuguese unemployment jumped to a record 15.8 per cent while in neighbouring Spain, one in four of the work force is jobless. Greece's economic output shrank 7.2 per cent on an annual basis in the third quarter as the debt-laden country staggers towards its sixth year of depression.
Close to 26 million people are unemployed in the European Union while governments take aim at spending on treasured universal health care and public schools.
"Things have to change... Money has ended up with all the power and people none. How could this happen?" said Esteban Quesada, 58, a hardware store owner in Barcelona who closed his shop to join the protests in Spain's second city.
Throughout southern Europe governments are trying to put public finances back on track after years of overspending. Portugal and Greece have cut pensions and, with Spain, have slashed public sector wages as well as spending on hospitals and schools. Italy and France are also under pressure to control their budget deficits.
EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn praised Spain on Wednesday for making progress in trimming its budget but acknowledged many Spaniards are struggling.
In Spain, most of the savings have been gobbled up by higher interest payments on the national debt, swollen by the cost of rescuing banks after a real estate bubble burst in 2008.
Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, said in a report on Wednesday that the euro zone debt crisis is still the number one risk to German banks and insurers, and the situation had not improved from last year.
Promises from the European Central Bank to support sovereign bond prices for countries that seek aid have brought some relief to Spain and Italy in the capital markets. On Wednesday Italy sold 3-year bonds at the lowest borrowing cost in two years.
While several southern European countries have seen bursts of violence, a co-ordinated and effective regional protest against austerity has yet to force a significant policy shift.
Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos told reporters on Wednesday the government would stay the course with spending cuts to meet ambitious deficit cutting targets, despite the strike.
"We're on strike to stop these suicidal policies," said Candido Mendez, head of Spain's second-biggest labour federation, the General Workers' Union, or UGT.
Union leaders in Spain said more than 9 million workers joined the strike – the second this year. The government said participation was much lower and played down the impact, saying many services were functioning normally. Stores opened normally in many parts of the country, though some had protesters outside.
About 5 million people, or 22 per cent of the work force, are union members in Spain. In Portugal about a quarter of the 5.5 million strong work force is unionized.
Passions were inflamed when a Spanish woman jumped to her death last week as bailiffs tried to evict her from her home. Spaniards are furious at banks being rescued with public money while ordinary people suffer.
In Portugal, which took an EU bailout last year, public and political opposition to austerity is growing, threatening to derail measures sought by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho.
Passos Coelho's policies were held up this week as a model by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is despised in much of southern Europe for taking a hard line on the conditions attached to EU aid.
Inspectors from the "troika" of the International Monetary Fund, ECB and European Commission – who monitor implementation of the conditions – also drew the protesters' anger.
In Lisbon, thousands filled a square in front of the Portuguese parliament shouting "This debt is not ours" and "Out IMF, out troika". Police were guarding the building.
"I'm on strike because those who work are basically being blackmailed into sacrificing more and more in the name of debt reduction, which is a big lie," said Daniel Santos de Jesus, 43, who teaches architecture at the Lisbon Technical University.
Major demonstrations were planned for the evening in Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona and other cities.
Protesters jammed cash machines with glue and coins, and plastered anti-government stickers on shop windows around Spain. Power consumption dropped 16 per cent with factories idled.
More than 600 flights were cancelled in Spain alone, mainly by Iberia and budget carrier Vueling. Portugal's flag carrier TAP cancelled roughly 45 per cent of flights.
In Greece, which saw a big two-day strike last week as parliament voted to approve new cuts, hundreds of strikers rallied peacefully in central Athens, holding aloft giant Italian, Portuguese and Spanish flags and banners proclaiming "Enough is enough."
In France, five trade unions organised marches in more than 100 cities but did not call for a strike. Left-wing critics of Socialist President François Hollande said he has failed to address the concerns of French workers who have the same fears as their counterparts in southern Europe.
"It's an unconditional surrender," hard left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said on France 2 television.