Anger mounted in Spain on Wednesday at striking hauliers who continued to block traffic and resort to violence for the third day after rejecting an offer by the government, according to dpa. Fruit and vegetable producers described the situation as "dramatic," while car makers said they were losing millions of euros and could face a total production shutdown by Thursday. Car drivers complained at being trapped on roads blocked by lorries, while consumers' associations called on the government to penalize the "hijacking of the roads" by hauliers' associations representing only 20 per cent of the sector's workforce. The hauliers are protesting rising fuel prices which, they say, eat up to 60 per cent of their income. The associations staging the strike rejected a deal reached Tuesday by the government and a transport commission on 54 support measures for the sector. The associations are insisting on a minimum price level for transport services, which Infrastructure Minister Magdalena Alvarez described as being illegal in a market economy. Negotiations were nevertheless set to continue. Lorries meanwhile continued clogging traffic on roads leading to major cities such as Madrid and Barcelona. More than 30 drivers were detained by police trying to get traffic moving in the Madrid region. More than 100 trucks drove at low speed in Granada to pay tribute to a picket who was hit by a truck and killed on Tuesday. A lorry driver was taken to hospital with serious burns after his vehicle began burning in San Isidro near Alicante. The man had been sleeping in the cabin. Several other trucks also burned out. Police were investigating whether strikers had set them on fire. Lorries were also set on fire in Murcia in south and in Arazuri in the north. Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said more than 50 people had been detained since the beginning of the strike. Some sea links between the Balearic Islands and the Spanish mainland were cancelled for lack of fuel. However, police managed to get traffic moving into France at the border post of La Jonquera, where more than 3,000 trucks had been barred entry by pickets. Consumers fearful of shortages queued at supermarkets whose shelves were half empty and at petrol stations in Madrid. Wholesale markets, supermarkets and smaller shops have begun running out of fresh fruit, vegetables and milk products as pickets prevented deliveries and consumers stocked up on supplies. Police were escorting petrol and food deliveries to protect them from pickets. Fish stocks have also been affected due to strikes by fishermen protesting the high fuel prices, with about 85 per cent of the Spanish fleet tied up in port. Protesting fishermen Wednesday burned tyres in the north-western Pontevedra region, temporarily blocking a bridge between Tui in Spain and Valenca in Portugal. Fishermen trying to enter the Galician regional parliament clashed with police in Santiago de Compostela. A picket was killed Tuesday also in neighbouring Portugal, where hauliers are staging similar protests.
