Barcelona 21 FEB 2019 - 20:23 CET
Catalonia faces on Thursday a new general strike of marked political character, this time as a protest against the trial of the leaders of the procés. The strike has been called by the minority union CSC and does not have the support of the main trade unions, although it does have the support of several pro-independence entities and the Catalan government. Despite the Government's calls for "permanent mobilization" only 23.6% of the workers of the Generalitat have stroked, according to data from the Labor Department. The public services, the big businesses and the main industries are functioning as usual this morning, but there have been traffic problems due to the cuts caused by the self-proclaimed Committees of Defense of the Republic (CDRs). The Mossos d'Esquadra have arrested four people: one in Barcelona, another in Gurb and two more in Tarragona, all for assault on authority. A student demonstration has resulted in the cutoff of the train tracks of the Plaza de Catalunya station in Barcelona.
The strike has been noticed on the roads, where the cutoffs have lasted until the early afternoon, and also in the various demonstrations organized by the students that took place in Barcelona and in the rest of the provinces. In Girona, 9,000 people protested against the Government's sub-delegation, reports Marta Rodríguez. In the Catalan capital, protesters have occupied the train tracks in Plaça Catalunya for two hours. This has forced the Generalitat to activate the Ferrocat plan for damage to the service of the Rodalies lines (Cercanías) 1, 3 and 4. In the vicinity there have been some charges of the Mossos against the demonstrators.
By midmorning, a dozen roads were cutoff. The main ones are the C-16 in Berga (Barcelona), the C-17 in Gurb (Barcelona) and the N-II in Sant Julià de Ramis (Girona). In Barcelona, several people have punctually cutoff the Gran Vía at the height of La Campana and Glòries, in addition to the Avenida del Parallel. The Mossos have restored circulation in the Gran Vía and encapsulated several of the protesters. There are about a dozen points with intermittent cutoffs that affect various bus lines. Mobility in the metropolitan area of Barcelona is today 13.7% lower than that of a conventional Thursday according to the Servei Català de Trànsit.
Public transport is operating above the minimum services established by the Generalitat. The Barcelona metro network offers between 60% and 100% of its usual service. According to the minimum services decreed by the Generalitat, Rodalies and Renfe regional trains will operate today at 33% throughout the day, while Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya trains will do so at 50% during peak hours (from 6.30 am to 9.30 am and from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm) and 25% the rest of the day. They are the same minimum services established for metro, bus and tram. Two main rallys were planned in Barcelona, one at midday called by the students, and another, which is expected to be massive, at six in the afternoon.
In the absence of official data from the Department of Labor, the strike has had a high following in universities (67.4%) and 28% in schools and high schools. The majority union in non-compulsory public education, Ustec, has been one of the conveners of the strike. Its spokesman, Ramon Font, has assured that the incidence "has been very high" among the teachers.
In the Vedruna Gràcia school, a private primary and secondary school chartered with the Generalitat, around 50% of the teachers and 50% of the students who have the right to strike (from the third year of ESO) seconded the strike, according to a worker. The minimum services are functioning as usual and no incident has occurred, this employee has indicated. In the Rius i Taulet public elementary school, only 11 of the 30 teachers seconded the strike.
In the universities, the strike has also been especially noticed. Convened by the ‘Unis per la Republica’ platform, which brings together several pro-independence groups of students, the students have emptied their classrooms in numerous faculties. At the University of Girona the adherence has been massive, as reported by the institution. In the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, where the strikes do not usually have a follow-up as high as in other institutions, there was "less presence than normal" in the classes, said a spokeswoman. "Only incidents in the first hour in the Faculty of Industrial Engineering by cutting off access to the classrooms", she added. At the University of Barcelona, the strikers have also been the majority. "In many cases classes have not been taught and in some specific schools, such as Economics or Earth Sciences, classes have been maintained at a 50% rate", a spokeswoman confirmed.
Little impact in health centers
In health centers, on the other hand, the strike has barely been noticed. The main hospitals in Barcelona, such as Vall d'Hebron, the Clínic or the Hospital del Mar, have not even had to reschedule activity, a measure that is usually taken on strike days to avoid the absence of personnel. Neither in the Josep Trueta of Girona there have been incidents and the activity has developed in a normal way. A spokeswoman for the Emergency Medical System has also indicated that all units are operational and that no relevant incident has occurred, reports Jessica Mouzo.
Some of the main industrial plants in Catalonia, such as Seat in Martorell (Barcelona) or the Nissan plant in the Zona Franca, operate normally despite the strike, reports Dani Cordero. The shops in the center of Barcelona have opened their doors as a normal day, informs Grego Casanova.
The strike has been possible thanks to the call of the union Intersindical-CSC, which groups only 321 of the 50,000 union representatives in Catalonia, but has the support of pro-independence organizations, minority unions and of the Generalitat itself, which has cancelled all the public activities of its ministers to encourage the mobilization. The big unions, CC OO and UGT, do not support this strike.
Following of the strike
In the afternoon, the Department of Labor has confirmed an unequal following of the strike in the different sectors:
Transport of travelers. The strike of transport workers has represented 12.15% in the metro, 4.2% in buses, 8.08% in the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat, 2.83% in Renfe trains. In the offices of the Autoritat Transport Metropolità (ATM) of Barcelona, the following was 67.86%.
Teaching. The strike was seconded by 27.87% of the workers.
Universities. The strike was supported by 67.45% of students.
Health. Only 7.52% of the staff went on strike.
Commerce. The strike was supported by 30% of workers in the sector.
Public administration. Despite the Government's encouragement to strike, it was only seconded by 23.66% of public workers.
In the official application of the call for the strike, Intersindical-CSC alleged labor demands, such as the repeal of the labor reform or the increase in the minimum wage. But nobody is letting aside the political motivation of this strike, which the union postponed -it was originally scheduled for February 7- to coincide with the trial of the procés. In the calls to support the strike, the union calls for the defense of the right to self-determination and against the prosecution of imprisoned politicians.
Despite its small size, the Intersindical-CSC has reaped many sympathies in the pro-independence movement. The union is in the orbit of the CUP. Its general secretary, Carles Sastre, is a known ex-member of the terrorist groups EPOCA and Terra Lliure during the seventies and eighties, who was sentenced to 48 years in prison for belonging to an armed gang and for murder.
The Catalan Government actively supports the strike today. Both the president, Quim Torra, and his ministers have canceled all their public activity. The plenary session of Parliament scheduled for today was also moved to the next week; this has led to complaints from opposition parties.
In the afternoon, thousands of people attended the demonstrations organized in different Catalan cities. In Barcelona, the unitary march supported by pro-sovereignty parties and entities, in addition to the unions promoting the strike, has brought together some 40,000 people, according to the Guardia Urbana, a figure that the organizers raise to 200,000.
Another one of the most multitudinous manifestations of this day has been the one of Girona, where some 70,000 people, according to estimations of the Local Police and the Mossos d'Esquadra, have gone out to the street
https://elpais.com/ccaa/2019/02/20/catalunya/1550691312_774567.html
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