Demonstration against work stoppage at hospital planned for April 25

(Photo: europasur.es)

LA LÍNEA The pressure group calling for work on the hospital to be finished, Plataforma en Defensa del Hospital, has called for a demonstration on Thursday, April 25, starting at 7.30 pm 'to give people the chance to come after work'. The organizers are expecting attendance from the area's political parties, politicians, consumer organizations and the general public from places such as Jimena and Castellar, from where many patients are derived to the current hospital in La Línea, which is in a 'neglected and ruinous state'. (The health service of Andalucía allows a choice of hospital and surgeons from within it, so many people choose the Punta de Europa hospital in Algeciras instead.) The demo will begin at the municipal hospital to avoid traffic cuts on Menéndez Pelayo Avenue in case of emergencies, and will walk along Gómez Ulloa, Gibraltar, Mateo Inurria and Clavel Streets to the main square, Plaza de la Constitución. The Plataforma's next meeting is on April 1 at 6.30 pm to continue plans for the demo itself and spreading information about it.

Bring your own saucepan - again

JIMENA Gonzalo writes: We invite the foreign community to join us to protest against austerity measures and cutbacks and corrupt politicians and being taken for a fool and .... Bring your own frying pan coz we're gonna fry 'em. (approximate translation). Okay, it was not very successful the last time, so, the organizers are trying again. What they really want is 25,000 people taking over the main square and beating the heck out of their old saucepans (any old tin tray or whatever will do). Let's help him do it. This coming Saturday, at 7pm.

Draft law: no more pictures of the police in action

(Law not yet in effect)

Passive resistance to get between 6 months to a year in jail

MADRID Spain's equivalent of the Home Office, the Ministry of the Interior, is the overall head of the National Police. The Director General of the police, Ignacio Cosidó, announced on Thursday that the draft of the so-called Citizen Security Law (Ley de Seguridad Ciudadana, part of, or an offshoot of the Spanish version of Homeland Security) is likely to include the prohibition of capturing, treating and publishing on Internet images, sounds and identification of the Police 'in the execution of their duties' if these put at risk the person or the operation in which he or she is involved. The announcement follows not only a meeting between Cosidó and the main police unions, but also films and photographs of police actions against demonstrations in Madrid and other cities, which show what has widely  been construed as excessive violence and repression.COMING SOON: SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Nobody brought their own saucepan

JIMENA We announced the cacerolada just a few hours before it was supposed to happen, which may be why just a few people turned up to protest against the nationwide cutbacks, etc. The fact that we turned up three quarters of an hour after it was supposed to have started may also have something to do with it. The image shows what was left, and witnesses said that it was kids who banged on the very few saucepans that were brought. Obviously, there is nothing to protest about in Jimena. That's nice.

Tonight: bring your own saucepan

JIMENA The term cacerolada comes from the word cacerola, or saucepan. But it means 'we're going to make a helluva lotta noise'. That is how Jimena intends to protest against the very serious cutbacks to its welfare state. This is in conjunction with the protests being carried out in Spain's main cities for the same reason and throughout today. If you feel the need to protest, bring your own cacerola, and something to bang it with, to the main square (El Paseo, or Plaza de la Constitución) at 7pm. (is there anything similar where you live?)

'Spain scare roils Europe markets': new media 'attack' on Spain

MADRID Just as the emergency budget for 2013 is getting approved in parliament, both the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times headline the recent demos, still going on last night and a good part of today. The budget is expected to be one of the most austere ever, with swingeing cutbacks and reductions and pay freezes. Among other things Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is blamed for his government's indecision in asking for a bailout. The BBC's Today programme this morning also dealt with the subject, as do many British and other European newspapers. In the meantime, some of the Spanish media are wallowing in 'poor mes'. Watch this space for a view on the new budget and other economic news.

Unions warn of new 'mobilisations'

Fernández Toxo, l., and Cándido Méndez

'Spectacular failure of cutbacks policy'

MADRID The leaders of the two main unions, Comisiones Obreras (Ignacio Fernádez Toxo) and Unión General de Trabajadores (Cándido Méndez) warned at a press conference yesterday that they were calling new 'mobilisations' throughout the country because of the failure of the government's economic policy. There was no specific date given but it is idely expected that the demonstrations would probably begin on or about September 15.

Union members 'expropriate' supermarket merchandise to deliver to food banks

The scene at Mercadona, Écija
(Photo: expansion.com)

Mercadona and Carrefour denounce the 'robberies' at their branches · UPDATE below

ANDALUCÍA Members of the Sindicato Andaluz de Trabajadores (SAT, a union) on Monday carried out what one of their leaders has called an 'expropriation' at two supermarkets, Mercadona in Écija, (Prov. of Sevilla) and Carrefour at Arcos de la Frontera, in Cádiz. At Arcos, where the the first 'attack' took place, they loaded some 10 shopping carts with what the same leader called 'basic necessities' such as milk, flour, eggs, oil, rice, beans, etc. They were stopped at the check outs, where by some reports they got into various arguments>>>

Thousands march in protest against cutbacks and labour reforms

(Photo:elpais.com/Juanjo Martín/EFE)

SPAIN (El País) Tens of thousands of people took to the streets around Spain on Tuesday to mark International Workers’ Day. The largest rally took place in Madrid, where the labor unions said some 100,000 people joined a march in protest against the sweeping spending cuts and labor reforms of the Popular Party government. “The [general strike of March 29] is not the end of it; the first of May is not the end of it; we’ll keep coming onto the streets to annoy them, to make them change,” said the leader of the CCOO labor union, Ignacio Fernández Toxo. His counterpart at the UGT union, Cándido Méndez, said that the government’s labor reform plan “has brought the working conditions of China to Spain.” Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, he said, “wants to impose the Thatcher mandate on us and destroy public services.”>>>

'No prospect of payment' of municipal salaries

Gemma Araujo
(campodegibraltar.es)

LA LÍNEA Mayor Gemma Araujo admitted yesterday that she is no nearer paying municipal employee salaries than she was after the last partial payment she made over Easter, which was for November salaries. Therefore, and given that Tuesday, May 1, is a Bank Holiday, April salaries have to be added to the long list of the unpaid. Unless there is news on Monday, which from all information, is very unlikely. This will add up to eight months for functionaries' salaries and nine months for other municipal workers (See a following item on how just one family is/is not coping). According to the current labour laws, the latter have to go to court to claim their salaries for May last year before the end of the month, or lose their right to payment. The unions representing both types of employees have announced a 'massive demonstration' to take place soon.

Unpaid municipal workers are planning 'massive demonstration'

Previous union demo

LA LÍNEA The municipal workers of La Línea are planning a 'massive demonstration' to be held soon, in order to protest about their 'dramatic' circumstances they have been forced into: in a few days' time they will have been unpaid for nine months. Union representatives say that the demo could be held 'in the next couple of weeks'. The situation, they add, is having a 'very big impact on the Council as well as on La Línea, as the Ayuntamiento is the town's largest employer'. They protest that while the politicians throw accusations at each other, 'it's the workers who suffer'. They are appealing to the national government and the Junta so that La Línea can receive its share of the Patrica System, which is a portion of the taxes collected from the regions by the central government. Meanwhile, Mayos Gemma Araujo has demanded one million euros per month from the provincial tax service or, she says, she will rescind the town's contract with it and collect its own taxes.

"Spanish revolt brews as national economic rearmament begins in Europe," says Daily Telegraph

Recent protest in Valencia

SPAIN (Daily Telegraph) Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, the Telegraph's International Business Editor, has written a riveting article about what might be next for Spain. We heard him being interviewed this afternoon on the BBC's PM programme, speaking excellent Spanish. The article's sub-heading reads: Spain's new prime minister has looked into the abyss and recoiled. To quote the first couple of paragraphs: "Though he swept into office as an apostle of orthodoxy, Mariano Rajoy has since delved into Madrid’s ghastly accounts and concluded that it would be "suicidal" to try to slash the budget deficit from 8% of GDP to 4.4p% of GDP this year, as demanded by Europe's fiscal Calvinists. Such a policy would require a further €40bn or €50bn of cuts and accelerate the downward spiral already underway, beyond the 1.7pc contraction expected this year by the International Monetary Fund. The unemployment rate would rise to well over 25pc with six million out of work by the end of the year, equivalent to 30pc under the old definition used in the last jobless crisis in the early 1990s." (Read the whole article here.)

Violent police charge against student protesters in Valencia

Ten people seriously injured so far, dozens of arrests

VALENCIA (Agencies) As we write, protests against education cutbacks continue on the streets of Valencia, where the police have been charging against protesters that include minors as well as their parents and grandparents. Matters turned nasty this afternoon. One witness said she, her daughter and granddaughter, aged 15, were standing on the curb when the police charged without apparent notice. The girl is one of ten people with serious injuries, according to reports. Politicians have asked for the Minister of the Interior's presence in Parliament tomorrow.

Thousands come out against labour reforms

Demo in Madrid
(Photo: EFE/Gustavo Cuevas)

Hundreds came out in Algeciras and other towns in the Campo de Gibraltar

SPAIN (Agencies) Yesterday was a day of protest all over the country - in 57 cities, mainly provincial capitals. The main unions, CC. OO. and UGT, convened the demonstrations in protest at the labour reforms approved the previous week by the Government, to be rubber-stamped by Congress soon. The major concentrations of protesters were, naturally, in the major cities, some of which reported only a few incidents. On the whole, the demos were without major problems, or, as one Deputy put it, they were an 'example of good democracy'. There were a few incidents in Valencia, where protests turned violent largely thanks to the usual troublemakers. Although it is not a capital city, the Campo demo was held in Algeciras, where several hundred people (as usual there is much discrepancy about the numbers) gathered in the Plaza Alta and went on to parade through the streets. Political parties were represented by those from all parties except, of course, the governing Partido Popular (PP). But what were they actually protesting about?>>>

Demos collapse border again today

(File photo: lalineadigital.es)

LA LÍNEA (Agencies) Protesting municipal workers again closed off the border this morning, this time burning tyres. It is expected that they will continue these demonstrations again tomorrow, as the unions have called a meeting -as they did today- at the doors to the Convention Centre (Palacio de Congresos) for eight tomorrow, Friday.

La Línea workers close border for two hours

(Photo: europasur.es)

LA LÍNEA (Agencies) Unpaid municipal workers of La Línea held a demonstration at the border with Gibraltar yesterday, which closed access to the Rock for about two hours. The demo began at eight when they concentrated in front of the Convention Centre, where the provisional Town Hall offices are located. The unions gave a report on the results of recent negotiations in Sevilla (very negative) and the assembly moved on to the border at about midday. Pedestrian access to Gibraltar was surrounded by National Police in riot gear but vehicular access was cut off completely in both directions. Moments of tension surfaced when a group of workers tried to cut off all entrances and exits, which was avoided by the police. For two hours, though, the queues both inside and outside the Rock were horrendous. In the end, police and unions managed to persuade the demonstrators to desist and order was restored. The protest is non-receipt of up to six months' wages and salaries, a problem Mayor Gemma Araujo is having a great deal of trouble sorting out.

Anti-bases demo a damp squib

(Photo: europasur.es)

GIBRALTAR / LA LÍNEA The Plataforma Andaluza contra las Bases (Anti-Bases Platform of Andalucía) held a peaceful demonstration yesterday at the frontier, approximately coinciding with the laying of wreaths at the War Memorial on the Rock. They were protesting, for the first time ever, against the presence of a naval base and against nuclear submarines crossing the Bay of Algeciras as a result. Only about 40 people turned up for the event, a protest that had previously been held at the bases in Morón and Rota. The demonstartors included members of the Communist Party, Izquierda Unida, various unions and environmental pressure groups, among others.

Anti-military base protest scheduled for Gibraltar frontier

SPAIN (Agencies) Demonstrations are planned at the frontier with Gibraltar by a coalition of Spanish groups and organisations on November 13 to protest at military activity in Gibraltar. Before that, the group will protest at military bases at Moron (October 30) and Rota (November 6). The Plataforma Andaluza Contra las Bases is opposed to the foreign military presence in southern Spain. The 'platform' is made up of over 20 non-governmental organisations and citizen groups including Ecologistas en Acción, the Communist party and minority unions. Expected to join but as yet unannounced is the 15-M movement that started the occupation of public places in anti-capitalist protests now spread throughout the world under different names.

Municipal workers change tactics: they have not been paid for five months

(Photo: noticias.terra.es)

LA LÍNEA (Agencies) A meeting of the municipal employees of La Línea, who have been protesting every day for 15 days, decided recently to stop their one-hour daily protests and instead to call a major demonstration on October 27, next Wednesday, when they expect to have the support of residents and visitors, as well as political party representatives. They came to the conclusion that their protests "did not have the effect we wanted," said a spokesman. The fact is, they have yet to receive their wages, despite stopping traffic and causing problems at the border. Among other measures decided at the meeting, they will continue to keep in contact with the various political parties, who are working towards a solution. They reminded the media that they have not been paid for five months and the situation is "desperate."

Global protests began in Madrid

WORLD  Protesters in cities across the world are taking to the streets to demonstrate against alleged (!!!) corporate greed and government cutbacks. Organisers say rallies will be held in 951 cities in 82 countries from Asia and the Americas, to Africa and Europe. Hundreds of people have already protested in Australia and New Zealand as well as other Asian cities. Many protest groups are taking their names from the high-profile Occupy Wall Street rally in New York. Organisers of the 15 October worldwide protests said on their website that the aim was to "initiate the global change we want".
"United in one voice, we will let politicians, and the financial elites they serve, know it is up to us, the people, to decide our future," it said. Protests over the global crisis first began in the Spanish capital Madrid back in May, when hundreds took over the city's Puerta del Sol square.
Forming a movement called "Indignant", the protesters said they wanted to demonstrate at the influence of powerful financial institutions over policy-making, and the impact of Spain's deepest economic crisis in decades.Observers say that, while protesters in Spain had concrete demands such as seeking a cut in working hours to tackle unemployment, many of the 'Occupy' protesters are vague in their demands.