The drivers called by the National Platform in Defence of Transport have continued with the indefinite strike they began on Monday. Their demands: to improve the serious situation they are going through due to, among other things, the rise in fuel prices, as well as working conditions which they describe as “unacceptable”. This Tuesday they staged a caravan of lorries from Santomera to Murcia along the A-30.
The second day of the strike was felt in the Escombreras Valley and in Lorca, and there is already a lack of petrol and diesel in some areas because the lorries cannot transport the fuel from the Repsol refinery in Escombreras to the petrol stations due to the presence of pickets. One of the “information pickets”, made up of around 30 hauliers, was stationed at the entrance to the Saprelorca industrial estate, the Guardia Civil watching their movements after a member of the picket was arrested for sabotaging a lorry. The second day of the strike has also been followed in other parts of the region with information pickets. Some Murcian lorry drivers are being victims of violent picket action on the Spanish road network.
In particular, a haulier from a company in Cieza had his lorry disabled last night. The incident occurred during a struggle with a plainclothes officer who was working during the workers’ information picket. The police officers were trying to prevent an assault on a lorry driver who did not give in to the picket’s pressure and began to hit the vehicle. In the struggle between the truck drivers and the plainclothes officer, the shot was fired accidentally, which is now being investigated by the police.
In Andalusia, the government delegate, Pedro Fernández, has deplored attacks on some hauliers who do not support the strike, putting the safety of the drivers themselves at risk.
