Spanish protesters hurl fireworks at police during mass strike

Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s socialist Prime Minister, seemed to encourage the strike on Monday (local time), posting a video on social media declaring that Spaniards won rights because of workers who “took to the streets and went on strike”.

Sanchez called a snap election last month after Parliament rejected his efforts aimed at relieving the country’s housing crisis.

The defeat of his housing reforms was the latest political setback for the Prime Minister and his minority Government, which has been hampered by a string of political scandals, including allegations of corruption and criticism over the Ceuta migrant crisis.

Current polling shows his party trailing behind the conservative People’s Party.

Four million Spanish workers took part in the general strike, unions said, enduring stormy weather to set up picket lines.

The general strike is the first since workers downed tools in 2012 against austerity measures during the eurozone debt crisis.

The walkout was backed by Spain’s two largest unions, UGT and CCOO, representing more than a million workers, as well as tenants’ associations angry about rising rents and evictions.

There is also fierce dispute over how many took part in the general strike, with unions estimating 60% of workers participated, compared with a 3% estimate by employers’ associations.

Unions declared the strike a success, however, the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations said it was a “failure” given participation was less than 5% on average at the territorial and sectoral level”, they said.

In Barcelona, more than 55,000 paraded along Passeig de Gracia to Urquinaona and Via Laietana.

Clashes broke out as the march came to an end, with hooded protesters starting fires, removing protective panels from boarded-up shops and smashing windows.

Protesters also fired fireworks at dozens of riot police officers, who responded with tear gas.

In the Spanish capital of Madrid, where protesters blocked Gran Via, organisers claimed more than 400,000 participated in the strike.

Police charged at protesters and unions claimed they fired pepper spray at pickets at Madrid’s Mercamadrid wholesale market, where 13 people required medical attention.

Unions said they would file a criminal complaint against what they described as a “disproportionate” response during a police operation involving tear gas and batons that left 20 protesters injured.

The strike follows weeks of demonstrations provoked by the eviction and subsequent death of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid.

Spain has a deficit of about 750,000 homes, which is set to grow to more than a million by 2028, according to the central bank.

The People’s Party accused the Government of attempting to weaponise the strike before the country’s November 29 election.

Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the party’s leader, called the strike “nonsense”, labelling the unions “mafia” and “trash”.

After the allegations Sanchez told Spanish TV: “What is nonsense is to question the rights of workers to strike.”

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