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AnonymousInactivehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7426971.stm
Europe fuel protests spread wider
Fuel
protests triggered by rising oil prices have spread to more countries
across Europe, with thousands of fishermen on strike.Union leaders said
Portugal’s entire coastal fleet stayed in port on Friday, while in
Spain, 7,000 fishermen held protests at the agriculture ministry.French
fishermen have been protesting for weeks, with Belgian and Italian
colleagues also involved.UK and Dutch lorry drivers held similar protests earlier this week.
The
strike reflects anger at the rising cost of fuel, with oil prices above
$130 (83.40 euros; £65.80) a barrel.Trade unions say the cost of diesel
has become prohibitively high, after rising 300% over the past five
years.Wholesale fish prices, meanwhile, have been static for 20
years.Fishermen’s leaders from France, Spain and Italy have been
meeting in Paris to co-ordinate strikes and protests over the next
three weeks in the run-up to a European Union fisheries ministers’
meeting.The protesters are calling for direct immediate aid for the
fisheries industry, coupled with increased subsidies.The European
Commission said in a statement it was willing to show flexibility
towards the industry but it has ruled out subsidies to offset rising
fuel costs.Short-term aid packages were acceptable as long as they were
used to address structural deficiencies in the fleets, it said.‘Ruin for fishermen’
Several
thousand fishermen marched on the agriculture ministry in Madrid, where
they handed out 20 tonnes of fresh fish to members of the public in an
attempt to draw attention to their ailing industry.Many blew whistles
and klaxons, and let off firecrackers producing red smoke.The BBC’s
Steve Kingstone at the protest said he could see flags from Catalonia,
the Basque country and Galicia.One banner read: “Soaring diesel plus
cheap fish equals ruin for fishermen.” Another chided Prime Minister
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero: “You are sending us to the cemetery.”
We must mobilise like the French and if we have to block ports, we’ll block them Xavier Aboy, union leaderOne
union leader in Barcelona said the country’s fishing fleet was at a
standstill.”Compliance is total. The entire Spanish coast is at a
halt,” Jose Caparros told AFP news agency.The unions also say they
could blockade ports, a day after French police forcibly removed
fishermen blocking oil depots.”We must mobilise like the French and if
we have to block ports, we’ll block them,” Xavier Aboy, a union leader
in Galicia, told AFP.In France the authorities have offered
100m euros in aid, prompting some fishermen to return to work.At dawn
on Thursday, French riot police cleared protesters from the
Mediterranean oil depots of Fos-sur-Mer and Lavera, and a Total
refinery at La Mede in the south.On the same day police clashed with
fishermen who burned tyres in the Atlantic port of Lorient, while
hundreds protested in Quimper, Brittany.On Friday, protesters blockaded
the Channel port of Le Havre.Hundreds of farmers have also been
blocking oil terminals near the cities of Dijon and Toulouse.In
Italy, at least 5,000 fishermen are expected to strike, the main trade
union Federcoopesca says. The government has already refused emergency
aid to the industry.But the BBC’s David Willey in Rome says many
fishermen are adopting a wait-and-see policy as talks with the
government continue, and in the Adriatic ports the response to the
strike has been mixed.”No boats went out” in Portugal, a union leader
there said, and in the central port of Peniche boat owners set up a
barrier to prevent unloading.Bulgarian bus drivers are also planning a
one-hour strike on Friday, following protests by lorry drivers on
Wednesday -
AuthorMay 30, 2008 at 2:21 PM
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