Dec 10 (Reuters) - Here are details of recent and
forthcoming protests in European countries against austerity
policies and other grievances, following clashes in London on
Thursday over a parliamentary vote to increase the cost of
university education. []
BRITAIN:
Oct 3 - A 24-hour strike by workers on London's underground
rail system disrupted much of the network and affected millions
of commuters. This marked the third such walkout since September
in a dispute over 800 planned job cuts. Another 24-hour strike
took place on Nov. 28.
Oct. 19 - Trade unions took protests over spending cuts to
parliament, promising to fight to protect public services.
Nov. 10 - About 55,000 students protested in London against
government plans to raise the cap on university tuition fees
almost threefold to 9,000 pounds ($14,000). Windows were smashed
and missiles hurled at police at the governing Conservative
Party's headquarters. Around 66 people were arrested.
Nov. 24 - Thousands of students staged walkouts and marches
across Britain against planned rises in tuition fees.
Nov. 30 - More than 150 demonstrators in London were
arrested during a student protest against the planned rise.
Dec. 9 - Thousands of protesters attacked government
buildings and damaged a car carrying Prince Charles after
parliament voted to raise the fees.
-- Protesters laid siege to the finance ministry, battering
open a door as they clashed with riot police. They later smashed
store windows in Oxford Street, one of London's main shopping
streets. Mounted police tried to disperse protesters outside
parliament.
-- Some commentators say the student protests could be a
prelude to wider unrest as austerity measures start to bite and
hundreds of thousands of jobs are lost in the public sector.
GREECE:
May 4-5 - Public-sector workers staged a 48-hour strike. On
May 5, a 50,000-strong protest in Athens led to violence and
three people died in a petrol bomb attack on a bank.
June 29 - Police fired tear gas at rioters shouting "burn
parliament" in Athens. About 12,000 people joined marches during
a strike against raising the retirement age to 65 for all.
July 8 - About 12,000 people marched against pension reform
in the unions' sixth 24-hour strike against austerity measures.
Nov. 22 - Greek private sector union GSEE called for a
pan-European strike in 2011 to take joint action against
austerity measures.
Dec. 2 - Police fired teargas in clashes with over 1,000
students who tried to break through a police cordon to march on
the British embassy in Athens, in solidarity with British
students who oppose plans to increase tuition fees, and against
austerity and education reforms in Greece.
Dec. 6 - Greek police clashed with youths hurling petrol
bombs in Athens during protests to mark the anniversary of the
2008 police killing of a teenager that provoked the country's
worst riots in decades.
-- Three people were injured as thousands marched through
Athens. Another rally is planned for Dec. 15 during a nationwide
anti-austerity strike.
CZECH REPUBLIC:
Dec 8 - Czech public sector workers went on strike against
government plans to cut the sector's wage bill by 10 percent. A
union leader said 123,000 workers out of about 600,000 public
sector employees joined the strike.
SPAIN:
Sept 29 - Spain's first general strike in eight years,
called to oppose spending cuts, disrupted transport and
factories but the impact was limited.
Dec. 3 - Spanish airspace reopened a day after a wildcat
strike by air traffic controllers paralysed airports and the
government declared its first state of emergency in the
post-Franco era. The government is pushing through tough reforms
and spending cuts to rein in a deficit and ward off market fears
it may need a bailout similar to that of Ireland. The walkout
disrupted travel for some 250,000 people on one of Spain's
busiest holiday weekends.
ITALY:
Nov. 30 - Thousands of students streamed through Rome
towards parliament. Students, who on Nov. 25 occupied tourist
sites including the leaning tower of Pisa and the Colosseum,
vowed to block proposed changes by Education Minister
Mariastella Gelmini.
IRELAND:
Nov. 27 - Thousands of Irish took to the streets of Dublin
to protest against a looming bailout. The EU approved an 85
billion euro ($115 billion) rescue for Ireland, a day later.
PORTUGAL:
Nov. 24 - Portugal's biggest unions, the CGTP and the UGT,
disrupted transport and halted services from healthcare to
banking in protest against wage cuts and rising unemployment in
the first joint general strike by the top two unions since 1988.
FRANCE:
-- A pension reform law was signed into law by President
Nicolas Sarkozy on Nov. 9. The reform raised the minimum
retirement age to 62 from 60 and the full retirement age to 67
from 65 to balance the loss-ridden pension system by 2018.
-- Fierce opposition by trade unions and the public, who
staged waves of protests over austerity measures, turned the
reform into the biggest battle of Sarkozy's presidency. The
strikes later subsided as the turnout for protests slumped.
(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit;
David Stamp)
