March 19 (Reuters) - French unions staged a nationwide day
of action on Thursday to denounce the government's economic
policies and call for more measures to help consumers.
The global financial crisis has sparked protests in many
parts of Europe this year:
BOSNIA -- Bosnia's Muslim-Croat parliament cancelled a
session on Feb. 26 rather than confront protesters complaining
about plans to cut benefits to narrow a big budget gap.
BRITAIN -- British workers held a series of protests at
power plants against the use of foreign contractors on critical
energy sites. They voted to end strikes on Feb. 5 after French
oil group Total agreed to hire more British workers at its
Lindsey oil refinery.
BULGARIA -- Hundreds of workers at Bulgaria's Kremikovtzi
steel mill protested on March 9 over planned lay-offs and unpaid
salaries, demanding the Socialist-led government find a buyer
for the insolvent plant.
-- Thousands of police officers marched in Sofia on March 15
to demand a 50 percent wage rise and better working conditions.
CZECH REPUBLIC -- Thousands of farmers from the Czech
Republic, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia and Poland
marched through Prague on March 12 to demand higher milk prices
and subsidies to boost incomes hit by the economic crisis.
FRANCE -- Protesters took to the streets of France on
Thursday in a second round of strikes and rallies called to
denounce President Nicolas Sarkozy's handling of the economic
crisis.
Up to 2.5 million people demonstrated around France on Jan.
29 over pay and job protection. On March 5, unions and
authorities signed a deal to end a six-week general strike over
wages and prices that had paralysed France's Caribbean island of
Guadeloupe. A union leader was killed, and shops were burned and
looted in the protests.
-- Thousands of workers marched in France's Indian Ocean
territory La Reunion on March 5 and March 10 in a campaign of
strikes and protests to push for wage increases.
GERMANY -- 15,000 Opel workers from Germany rallied on Feb.
26 at the German HQ of their struggling company, demanding
parent General Motors scrap plans for plant closures in Europe.
GREECE -- The fatal police shooting of a 15-year old in
December sparked the country's worst riots in decades, fuelled
by anger at economic hardships and youth unemployment.
Anarchists and left-wing guerrilla groups have followed up with
a wave of attacks against banks and police.
-- Greek unions, representing about 2.5 million workers,
have also staged repeated protests against the government,
saying its measures to tackle the global crisis only burden the
poor.
HUNGARY -- Police used teargas to disperse a group of
anti-government protesters in Budapest March 15 and detained a
total of 35 people.
IRELAND -- Nearly 100,000 people marched through Dublin on
Feb. 21 to protest at government cutbacks in the face of a
deepening recession and bailouts for the banks.
LATVIA -- A new Latvian prime minister was appointed on Feb.
26 after coalition government collapsed, the second to succumb
to the financial crisis after Iceland. The agriculture minister
quit on Feb. 3 after protests by farmers over falling incomes.
LITHUANIA -- Police fired teargas on Jan. 16 to disperse
demonstrators who pelted parliament with stones in protest at
social spending cuts. Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius vowed to
press on with an austerity plan.
MONTENEGRO -- Aluminium workers on Feb. 9 demanded to be
paid and win an immediate resumption of suspended production at
the Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica, a Russian-owned plant.
POLAND -- Up to 10,000 workers, mostly from the arms
industry, demonstrated on March 6 against lay-offs after Poland
announced defence budget cuts. In Gdansk, 3,000 workers
protested against power producer Energa's job cut plans.
PORTUGAL - Tens of thousands of workers marched in Lisbon on
March 13 against the policies of the Socialist government, which
unions say are increasing unemployment and favouring the rich at
a time of crisis.
RUSSIA -- About 1,000 demonstrators called for the
government to resign during a peaceful march in Vladivostok on
March 15, the latest protest linked to the economic crisis in
Russia. About 800,000 Russians lost their jobs in December and
January, taking the total number of unemployed to more than 6
million, or 8.1 percent of the working population.
-- Sixteen steelworkers at ESTAR's Zlatoust steel mill
suspended a hunger strike over wages on March 14 after
management agreed to some demands, but threatened to
resume the rare show of dissent over spreading economic
hardship.
UKRAINE - Hundreds of Ukrainians protested on Feb. 23, some
urging President Viktor Yushchenko to quit, others demanding
their money back from banks hit by the financial crisis.
