Follow-Up: Riots Erupt in Barcelona on Spain General Strike Night: Shops Smashed, More Than 50 Arrested
On the evening of November 11, Spain's first general strike in 14 years turned violent in Barcelona. The Associated Press reported that after a peaceful march, groups of younger protesters smashed the storefronts of brand-name stores along Passeig de Gràcia, the city's main shopping boulevard, set small bonfires in front of stores including an Apple store whose entrance was shattered, burned dumpsters and launched fireworks at riot police.
Spain's Interior Ministry counted 919 incidents and 52 arrests nationwide by 5 p.m., with 38 arrests by the National Police and Civil Guard, one by Catalonia's Mossos d'Esquadra and 13 by the Basque Ertzaintza. Unions denounced the use of pepper spray against pickets at Madrid's Mercamadrid wholesale market and at the Granada Metro.
The strike, held under the slogan 'Salaries. Housing. Prices.' by Spain's two main union federations, was the country's first general strike driven mainly by anger over housing and living costs. Organizers said 400,000 people marched in Barcelona, while the city government put the figure at 55,000; about 120,000 marched in Madrid. Spain holds parliamentary elections on November 29.
Related: Follow-up: Spain's first general strike in 14 years begins
(Source: Associated Press)
Source: Associated Press
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：巴塞罗那格拉西亚大道（资料图），11月11日晚骚乱发生在这条购物大道一带。照片：Celso Azevedo 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona (file photo), near where riots erupted on the night of November 11. Photo by Celso Azevedo, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
