Workers of the Continent unite to fight the cuts

WORKERS have clashed with police across Europe in a day of demonstrations against job and public spending cuts.

• Anti-riot vans drive through central Barcelona during clashes between demonstrators and police yesterday. Picture: AFP/Getty Images

The action caused havoc to transport, with flights between Scotland and Spain among those cancelled. Trains and buses were also shut down in several countries, with doctors walking out in Greece and a huge march in Brussels.

Demonstrations were also held in Scotland and protesters took to the streets in Italy, Latvia, Slovenia, Poland and Portugal.

The European Trade Union Confederation's (ETUC) day of action aimed to build on the first general strike in Spain for eight years.

Unions estimated the turnout in Brussels, where protesters targeted European Union buildings, at 100,000 people. However, police put the total at 56,000.

The protest was led by a group dressed in black suits with black face masks, carrying umbrellas and briefcases, representing financial speculators acting as the head of a funeral cortege mourning the death of Europe.

Some demonstrators confronted riot squads with a sit-down protest in the middle of the street. A total of 218 people were detained, some in scuffles with police.

Protester Ralf Kutkowski, a German coal miner, said: "For the banking system, there are millions and billions of euros, but social payments are being cut. That's not right."

The march came as the European Commission proposed new penalties to punish member states that have run up deficits.

In Dublin, a man blocked the gates of the Irish parliament with a cement truck to protest at the country's expensive bank bailout. Written across the truck's barrel in red letters were the words: "Toxic Bank" Anglo and "All politicians should be sacked". Police said they had arrested a 41-year-old man.

Strikes or protests took place in Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Slovenia and Lithuania, all aimed at the austerity plans that European governments have implemented to try to control their debt.

In Spain, whistle-blowing pickets blocked trucks from delivering produce to wholesale markets in Madrid and Barcelona. Strikers hurled eggs and screamed "scabs" at drivers trying to leave a city bus garage in Madrid.

Airlines cancelled hundreds of flights at Spanish airports, including many Ryanair services.

Spanish unions said 10 million people, or more than half the workforce, were on strike.But the government said fewer than 10 per cent of public administration workers were on strike. In Gr