Spain braces for new fuel protest

Fuel protests and blockades have disrupted Spain for weeks

MADRID, Spain (Reuters) -- Hauliers are set to start a three-day strike by setting up border blockades in protest at soaring fuel prices, ignoring Spanish government accusations of irresponsibility.

After talks between the two sides failed to produce agreement, hauliers vowed to go ahead with nationwide protests from midnight Sunday.

Fishermen and farmers who clashed with police in Seville and Barcelona on Friday also plan to extend blockades and protests, continuing the wave of unrest unleashed across Europe by high fuel prices.

"It will be a major protest. People are upset and nervous and this is going to be a very active week," Manuel Garcia Tagua, an official of Unitrans, the lorry drivers' association said.

The government stuck to its tough line, repeating its refusal to cut fuel tax and vowing to keep fuel supplies moving.

"The government will guarantee that supplies will be regular... and it is not going to put anything else on the table of negotiation," Agricultural Minister Miguel Arias Canete told state radio.

MAP Fuel crisis sweeps Europe     MESSAGE BOARD Rising oil prices

Development Minister Francisco Alvarez Cascos, who sought to avert the strike in marathon weekend talks, accused the hauliers of irresponsibility.

"Blocking a strategic sector is bad for everyone," he told CNN.

"Whoever cannot show that he is doing the utmost to avoid it will have to justify to the Spanish people why he is putting his self interest ahead of the general interest."

Garcia said all major trucking organisations would join the protests, which will coincide with an annual blockade by European lorry drivers on Wednesday in protest at long and dangerous hours.

With protests last week leaving service stations running out of fuel in Barcelona and fresh fish unobtainable on the eastern and southern coasts, the government convinced most farming and fishing groups to go back to work after offering soft loans and lower social security payments.

But dissident groups demanding drastic reductions in fuel prices continued demonstrating over the weekend, even though anti-riot police broke down their blockades at fuel depots on Friday.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Spanish fuel price protesters extend blockades
September 29, 2000
High oil prices worry Asia, but cause no crisis yet
September 25, 2000
European ministers gather to debate fuel protests
September 20, 2000
Fuel protests grow as oil prices hit 10-year high
September 20, 2000
Europe governments struggle with fuel protests
September 18, 2000

Spanish government - in Spanish
Public Transit Passenger Information

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.