Truck drivers in Spain, France and Portugal are stepping up protests over rising fuel prices, as demonstrations spread Monday across Europe.
Traffic backups were reported in Madrid and Barcelona, as truckers pushed their demands for gas price relief and other drivers topped off fuel tanks in anticipation of gasoline shortages.
Protest actions also snarled traffic at main border crossings between Spain and France. French television showed trucks backed up several kilometers near the southern French city of Bordeaux, after Spanish protesters at the nearby border smashed windshields on trucks attempting to enter Spain.
Separately, Reuters news agency says Portuguese truckers threatened to block roadways to Algarve, a popular tourist region, to prevent goods from reaching the area.
Meanwhile, French fishermen from Mediterranean ports today suspended their three-week fuel price protests.
The French news agency AFP says the protests, which blocked key ports and fuel terminals, were suspended ahead of a June 23-24 meeting of European fisheries ministers, who are set to discuss fuel proposals.
French fishing fleets at the Atlantic ports of Calais, Dunkirk and Boulogne-Ser-Mer called off their protests last week, to await the outcome of the ministerial talks.
Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 3:41 pm Post subject: Re: Spanish, French, Portuguese Truck Drivers Fuel Protests
In the western european countries, the socialist states take so much from the working economy (from the salaries, from the companies, from every thing that is produced, sold, bought) that every private business (especially the smaller ones, but not only) tends to always be on the brink of bankruptcy…
Those protests are performed by strangled small business (both the owners and the workers).
Also, people get used to assume that the governments must solve every problem (even if it is a geologic inevitability, but anyway very few people know about Peak Oil)…
The politicians tend to defend just that kind of view, because it increases their own standing.
And of course, if more than half of everything that is produced is appropriated by the state, one easily gets to believe that state must be rich enough to solve this kind of problem…
Joined: Aug 17, 2005 Posts: 580 Location: Portugal
Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 5:35 pm Post subject: Re: Spanish, French, Portuguese Truck Drivers Fuel Protests
I was at a fishing town in Portugal today. Asked for fish at a restaurant but there was NONE. Marketplaces are running short on fresh goods and some gasoline stations are out of fuel, with tanker trucks caught on road blocks.
Joined: May 06, 2008 Posts: 3 Location: Alentejo(Pt)
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:09 am Post subject: Re: Spanish, French, Portuguese Truck Drivers Fuel Protests
Hi everyone, first post, long time reader.
The situation here in Portugal is getting pretty bad. The road blocks that the truckers and truck companys have made in protest of high fuel prices are becoming a serious issue.
There are shortages of goods in the supermarkets, and there´s a shortage of fuel in many fuel stations all around the country, last night the governement set up a convoy of 40 fuel trucks escorted by police forces to refuel the stations. There are fuel shortages in the airport and flights have been canceled. Firefighters and ambulances are complaining for lack of fuel.
People are scared and are beggining to hoard fuel and demand that the governement uses force to stop the road blocks.
I wonder what will be like in 2012 (or early?) when real declines in world oil production kick in, when people realize that the governement can´t do nothing to ease the cost of life as we know it, and life becomes unbearable. Chaos, i fear!
Sorry for my english. Best regards.
1 Abraco Whereagles.
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:52 am Post subject: Re: Spanish, French, Portuguese Truck Drivers Fuel Protests
Hello Sar and welcome to the forum.
Another concerned individual from your country recently joined the forum. You can find his thread on the Europe sub-forum, titled simply "Portugal". Maybe you might want to join in on that discussion? It is sad to hear that you are having it so bad over there. I have been intrigued by whats going over there in the iberian peninsula for quite some time. Seems like the developing financial+oil crisis caught you folks at a very inconvenient time.
best of luck to you and hope to have you as a contributor of a portugese perspective in the times to come.
p.s. on a lighter note, in two hours local time portugal will gear up against czech in the european football championship and I will attend to a TV somewhere to see it. portugal has been a favourite footie team of mine for a while, seeing as how my country never manages to get a team into any of the final cups in that sport.
Joined: May 06, 2008 Posts: 3 Location: Alentejo(Pt)
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:44 am Post subject: Re: Spanish, French, Portuguese Truck Drivers Fuel Protests
phaeryen wrote:
p.s. on a lighter note, in two hours local time portugal will gear up against czech in the european football championship and I will attend to a TV somewhere to see it. portugal has been a favourite footie team of mine for a while, seeing as how my country never manages to get a team into any of the final cups in that sport.
Thanks phaeryen.
Hehehe, when the game begins the crisis will stop for about two hours, and i guess it would be a good time to refuel the fuelstations and replace the stocks in supermarkets as the truckdrivers go to the nearest television set to watch the game .
If we win, i wonder if we will see the usual motorcades going in loops and hitting the horns, burning huge amounts of fuel
Joined: Jan 03, 2005 Posts: 179 Location: Leucadia in the summer and Baja in the winter
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:06 am Post subject: Re: Spanish, French, Portuguese Truck Drivers Fuel Protests
Sar, welcome and thanks for your comments. My fear is that the governments are going to use brute force to "unblock" these truckers. Back in the US when we had the Watts riots in downtown LA, after several days of rioting, the police just started shooting people. That simple. The riots died down very quickly. _________________ "If what we had was a dog and pony show what we have now is a canine-equestrian extravaganza"
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:15 pm Post subject: Re: Spanish, French, Portuguese Truck Drivers Fuel Protests
Pfish wrote:
Sar, welcome and thanks for your comments. My fear is that the governments are going to use brute force to "unblock" these truckers. Back in the US when we had the Watts riots in downtown LA, after several days of rioting, the police just started shooting people. That simple. The riots died down very quickly.
There will be growing discontent with those that paralyze the economy on essentials (water, food) and "essentials" (energy: electricity and fuel) due to high fuel prices...
There may be some with weapons that threathen the strikers to continue working. If this protests happened in Costa Rica I don't know what to do... maybe shout: "lemmings, Peak Oil is here to stay!" ...but I don't want to get shot... lol, maybe I will do it anyway because here we're peaceful lazy to be violent! _________________ anagami.net
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:10 pm Post subject: Re: Spanish, French, Portuguese Truck Drivers Fuel Protests
Pfish wrote:
Sar, welcome and thanks for your comments. My fear is that the governments are going to use brute force to "unblock" these truckers. Back in the US when we had the Watts riots in downtown LA, after several days of rioting, the police just started shooting people. That simple. The riots died down very quickly.
Prophetic Words, the strike in Spain seems to be over (for a while at least). The police was ordered to clear up the pickets.
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portugal has been a favourite footie team of mine for a while, seeing as how my country never manages to get a team into any of the final cups in that sport. 
.
...but I don't want to get shot... lol, maybe I will do it anyway because here we're 
