Border checks resume to block ECB protests

SPAIN: Authorities have temporarily restored border checks in Spain’s north-east and at two major airports in an attempt to stop protesters entering the country ahead of a European Central Bank meeting in Barcelona.

The Catalan regional capital is to host an ECB governing council assembly on 3 May as the financial crisis in Spain deepens, with 24.4 per cent of the workforce unemployed and the economy in its second recession in three years. Spanish authorities also suspended the Schengen Treaty, which allows unrestricted travel inside member nations, and imposed controls at six border crossings with France.