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 Greece, which had to be rescued this spring by the 15 other euro zone nations to stave off bankruptcy, bus drivers walked off the job for several hours and Athens' metro and tram systems also shut down.

National railway workers also walked out, disrupting rail connections across the country, while doctors at state hospitals went on a 24-hour strike.

Greece has already been suffering from two weeks of protests by truck drivers who have made it difficult for businesses to get supplies. Many supermarkets are suffering shortages.

Some 400 protesters rallied in an illegal demonstration in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius to demand authorities drop harsh austerity measures such as salary cuts.

In Slovenia, thousands of public service workers continued their open-ended strike into a third day to protest over the government's plan to freeze their salaries for two years or until the economy grows again at a rate of 3 per cent.

Meanwhile, some 1,000 Latvian trade unionists protested outside Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis' office in Riga.

Unions in Portugal said up to 30,000 people took part in demonstrations.

Up to 5,000 Polish workers took part in protests against government plans to freeze wages and raise taxes.

Workers from across the country blew horns and whistles during a demonstration in Warsaw, demanding government guarantees over job security.

In Scotland, a 600-strong march through Dundee city centre, organised by Dundee Trades Council included council staff, firefighters, university lecturers and police support staff.

Elsewhere, an official from the Unison union dressed up as a belted "fat cat" in Glasgow city centre to demand that bankers rather than the public should be forced to tighten their belts. Union meetings were also held in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

ETUC general secretary John Monks told the Brussels demonstration: "This is the start of the fight, not the end. That our voice be heard is our major demand today - against austerity and for jobs and growth,

"It is a bizarre time for the European Commission to be proposing a regime of punishment. How is that going to make the situation better? It is going to make it worse." Unions fear workers will become the biggest victims of an economic crisis set off by bankers and traders, many of whom were rescued by massive government intervention. Mr Monks, a former general secretary of the TUC, said: "There is a great danger the workers are going to be paying the price for the reckless speculation that took place in financial markets.You really have got to reschedule these debts so they are not a huge burden on the next few years, and cause Europe to plunge down into recession."

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government is under severe pressure because of unpopular measures put in place to save Europe's fourth-largest economy from a bailout like one that saved Greece from bankruptcy in May.