posted by admin on Jun 15
Europe -
Jazz Blog (USA), by Jazzy -14 June 2008: --
* Spain: Hauliers' unions vowed to press on with protests, rejecting measures to end the three-day nationwide protests over rising fuel prices... In San Isidro, near Alicante, a lorry driver is being treated for serious burns after narrowly escaping an attempt by strikers to burn him alive in his cab. Fire destroyed four trucks and damaged a fifth at the industrial park... The incident, being investigated by police, followed the death near Granada on Tuesday of a picketing haulier hit by a lorry... 
(The hauliers say fuel prices consume up to 60 per cent of their income)
(Clashes: Spanish police arrive to break up a picket line by striking Spanish truckers in Iznalloz, near Granada)
(A protesting farmer throws produce at riot police in Almeria, southern Spain)
(Fuel anger: An injured farmer kneels in front of riot police during clashes between fuel-protest farmers and riot police in Almeria)
(Mourners in Peligros, Granada, carry the coffin of Julio Cervilla Sojo, the Spanish picket who died on Tuesday after being knocked down by a lorry driver)
(Scorched: A man walks past a burned truck during a transport strike in Azamabuja north of Lisbon, Portugal)
* Portugal: Shortages are also beginning to bite in neighbouring Portugal, where retailers have said food stocks at supermarkets are beginning to run out, and several petrol stations in Lisbon ran dry yesterday... Portuguese farmers said they would have to throw away 660,000 gallons of fresh milk by the end of the day unless the protest ended because they had run out of storage capacity... A striker died as he tried to stop a truck on a road north of the capital...
* The Netherlands: Lorry drivers said they would limit speed to 30mph on a number of Dutch roads today in protest at calls for a diesel excise duty. They also want a system to stabilise diesel prices by lowering duties when oil prices rise and raising them when they fall...
(A shopper picks out the few remaining oranges at a supermarket in Madrid as shortages begin to bite)
Tags:
fuel prices,
trucks
posted by admin on Jun 15
* Gridlocked cities, empty shelves and bloodshed as fury at soaring costs spreadsAsia -
Jazz Blog (USA), by Jazzy -14 June 2008: --
Around the world, Worldwide protests over the rising price of fuel escalated today, with the Philippines presidential palace besieged by lorries, fishermen burning their boats in Thailand, and Spanish petrol stations running dry as hauliers blockade major roads.Violence has already claimed lives of lorry drivers on either side of the dispute, while one haulier was nearly burned to death in his cab by strikers...
* Philippines - Hundreds of lorries and minibuses blocked roads in Manila leading to Malacanang Palace today to demand the lifting of a 12 per cent sales tax on fuel. Petrol prices there have risen about 24 per cent this year... 
(Photo: Anger drivers take their grievances onto the streets of Manila
)... Traffic ground to a halt as anti-riot police halted the convoy, including about 500 tuk-tuks, Manila's three-wheeled taxis...
* Thailand - In Thai capital Bangkok, tens of thousands of heavy lorries are threatening to cause havoc while farmers are demonstrating and fishermen have begun burning their boats in nationwide protests against soaring prices of fuel and other essentials... Lorry drivers' leaders warned the government that it has until next Tuesday to subsidise their fuel or face at least 100,000 vehicles rumbling into Bangkok. A half-day strike yesterday by lorry drivers who parked their vehicles on roads across the country was only a prelude to next week's possible push into Bangkok, they said... Finance Minister, Suraphong Suebwonglee, said there were plans to help reduce transport costs... 'I am not concerned about the lorry drivers' threat to strike because the government is seeking to subsidise the transport sectors as the whole,' he said... 
(Photo: Thai truck drivers block the highway during a strike protest against high fuel prices on a highway on the outskirts of Bangkok)
* Malaysia - Meanwhile opposition groups in Malaysia today vowed to push on with mass protests against a 41 per cent hike in petrol prices - despite a pledge from the Prime Minister to keep prices fixed for the rest of the year... Malaysia is Asia's largest net oil exporter, earning £38 million a year in revenue for every 50 pence rise in crude prices. Protesters demanded to know why rising profits from oil exports were not being used as subsidies to the poor... A march is planned tomorrow in Kuala Lumpur to the Petronas Twin Towers, headquarters of oil giant Petronas... A million people are expected for another demonstration in the capital next month... Police have warned they will take action against protesters, with a permit required for any gatherings of more than four people... 
(Photo: Fury united: Activists from the Communist Party of India stop a train at Guwahati Railway Station during a protest against the hike in fuel prices today)...
Malaysia followed India, Indonesia, Taiwan and Sri Lanka by raising pump prices last week. On Monday, Nepal became the latest Asian nation to rise prices to stem losses of a state firm... Also in Asia, South Korean lorry drivers voted to strike on Monday, ignoring a £5 billion government aid package designed to cushion the impact of fuel price rises... 
Tags:
fuel prices
posted by admin on Jun 12
* Spain - Police clear truckers' blockade over gas costs
Madrid,Spain -
AP/USA Today -12 June 2008: --
Spain deployed riot police on Wednesday to lift striking truckers' blockades of a border crossing with France and a major highway outside Madrid and made dozens of arrests... The independent drivers are demanding a minimum guaranteed rate for their services. The Socialist government refuses, saying that would interfere with free-market competition... The riot police intervention was peaceful in La Junquera, but in Madrid, police arrested 34 strikers, the minister said. All told, 51 people have been arrested since the strike started and police vehicles have escorted nearly 3,000 trucks transporting food, fuel and other goods, he said... In other apparently strike-related violence, fire destroyed four trucks and damaged a fifth at an industrial park near the eastern city of Alicante before dawn Wednesday. Officials said they did not rule out the possibility that the fire was set deliberately. A driver who was sleeping in his vehicle when it caught fire suffered serious burns. .. The Spanish government agreed Tuesday night with a large, non-striking trucking union on a package of tax relief and other measures to help the industry. The package was presented Wednesday to three unions representing the strikers, but they rejected it, said Julio Villaescusa, president of one those unions,calledFenadismer... (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images - Police remove trucks blocking the highway in Madrid in protest of fuel prices on the third day of the Spanish transport strike on Wednesday
* Thousands of European truckers join fuel protests
Madrid,Spain -
AFP -11 June 2008: --
Spain's second largest hauliers' union Fenadismer, which claims to represent 70,000 out of Spain's 380,000 truck drivers, launched an open-ended strike on Monday. It said it was "peaceful" but followed "massively"... Talks Monday between the hauliers and the government ended in failure, Fenadismer said... (Photo 1. Two men raise their fists in support of truck drivers blocking traffic on the motorway into Madrid)
French truckers struggling with high fuel costs staged fresh protests near the Spanish border and in the southwest.... Several trucks from the southern city of Perpignan disrupted traffic at border posts, preventing trucks from crossing and causing a tailback of some 10 kilometres (six miles) on both sides of the border... Protestors branded banners which read: "Trucker = Unemployed," and "It's the end of our profession."... (Photo 2. Truck drivers block traffic on the motorway into Madrid)
Portugal's Transport Minister Mario Lino was to meet later Monday with representatives of road transport associations in a bid to end the strike by truckers who have threatened to "paralyze" the country... According to police, trucks parked at petrol pumps were stoned overnight or while they were on the road after the strike started at midnight... The strikers also blocked entrances to several factories. According to industry figures, there are some 40,000 truckers in Portugal serving an estimated 5,000 firms... (Photo 3. FRANA traffic policeman stands in front of truck drivers blocking traffic)
* Spain - Trucks clog highways on 2nd day of strike over fuel prices
Madrid,Spain -The International Herald Tribune (Paris,FR)/AP -June 10, 2008: --
Truckers angry over soaring fuel prices blocked highways across Spain on Tuesday, disrupting supplies of food, gasoline, auto parts and other goods. One protester was killed when he was run over by a van trying to drive through a picket in a southern city... Three auto plants — one each from Nissan, Mercedes Benz and SEAT — said they were suspending operations for lack of spare parts. And some gasoline stations in Madrid and the northeastern Catalonia region already have run out of fuel... Vendors warned of shortages of fruit, vegetables and meat this week at Madrid's sprawling wholesale market, Mercamadrid, if the strike continues... (AFP Photo: Truck drivers block traffic on the motorway out of Madrid as they demonstrate against rising fuel prices)
* UK - Truckers demand action over soaring costs
Edinburgh,UK -
The Scotsman -10 June 2008: --
Angry truckers took to the streets today to demand Government action to ease soaring fuel costs... More than 80 trucks travelled in convoy from Glasgow to Edinburgh where they handed in a letter at the Scottish Parliament... Taxis also joined the convoy on the M8 motorway, complaining their fuel prices had gone up by £30 per week per driver in recent months... When they reached the capital, the truckers staged a go-slow, crawling through the city streets at 15mph... Bill McIntosh, of the Scottish Taxi Federation, said: "In terms of fuel costs alone, over the last six months or so it has increased by 25 times – £30 per week, per driver."... One of the trucks displayed a sign which read: "I'm no fuel fool."... Another read "Broon back doon"... (Picture: Jane Barlow - A convoy of lorries travel the M8 from Glasgow to Edinburgh)
* Portugal - Two truck drivers die as fuel protests spread across Europe
Madrid,Spain -
AFP by Olivier Thibault -Jun 10, 2008: --
Two lorry drivers were killed on picket lines in Spain and Portugal on Tuesday as strikes by thousands of truckers over soaring fuel prices turned deadly... A Portuguese driver was killed after he was hit by a truck as he manned a barricade filtering traffic near Alcanena, north of Lisbon... 
Tags:
fuel prices,
trucks
posted by admin on Jun 6
* India - BJP protests fuel price hikeMumbai,India -
ANI report -Jun 6, 2008: --
India's main opposition party, BJP called for strikes across the country saying that the ruling UPA government should have done more to protect ordinary citizens from rising global oil prices... See Video* Chile - Truck strike hits Cerro Colorado copper mineSantiago,Chile -
Reuters, by Manuel Farias & Pav Jordan & Matthew Lewis -June 5, 2008: --
BHP Billiton said on Thursday that operations at its smallest copper mine in Chile, Cerro Colorado, had been hit by a truckers' strike that prevented it from bringing in workers and materials... The spokesman said operations at Billiton's larger Chilean mines, Escondida and Spence, were so far unaffected by the national truckers' protest that started at midnight on Monday. Escondida is the world's largest copper mine... Chilean truckers are striking to demand the government cut taxes on diesel to lower the cost of skyrocketing fuel prices... The strike in its third day saw gasoline pumps dripping dry, supermarket shelves went empty and products piling up at Chilean ports on Thursday... The strike added energy-poor Chile to the list of countries experiencing protests against soaring global oil prices, and also came on top of a walkout at a major port... * Chile - Truckers strike by gasoline prices. Threaten indefinitely oneSantiago,Chile -Reuters TV (Bogota,Colombia), by Gerard Soler/
YouTube/EFE -4 June 2008: --
The leaders of the Chilean truckers, which paralyzed today some 60,000 vehicles in protest over high fuel prices, warned that the strike, called by 48 hours, could be indefinite if the government does not give a "powerful signal" to settle their claims ... "Since there is no indication by the Government, nor will clear approaching the owners of the trucks, I think the most logical step is extended indefinitely," said Hector Farias, spokeswoman of about 3,000 truckers stationed in the South route Longitudinal , about 40 kilometers from Santiago... Farias said that the government forgets that the high price of fuel affects not only truckers but also to public transport, the taxi driver, the owner and the ordinary citizen. .
* Chile - Linares: Truckers' Strike Linares,Chile -
YouTube -3 June 2008: --
Teamsters in the regions VI to VIII adhere to the mobilization sector convened by the Confederation of Transport Major in Santiago. It is estimated that at noon on June 4 of this could have nearly a thousand trucks on the routes of provincias Linares and Cauquenes not ruled out measures of pressure that could even include cutting the Route 5 south... So far, only about 200 trucks are on the berms in the area, but an undetermined amount is on alert to get on Route 5 when cuaslquier whether their leaders so request... (Video from YouTube, by linareschile)
Tags:
fuel prices,
teamster,
trucks
posted by admin on Jun 3
Fishing strikes falter as French farmers
Paris,France -
AFP -2 June 2008: --
Splits emerged in Europe's fuel-price fishing strikes Monday, with some Spanish trawlers returning to work and most French fishing ports operating normally after a three-week stoppage... Dozens of French riot police fired tear gas at the farmers attempting to blockade the Total depot in Frontignan, who were seen hurling bolts and empty bottles at police lines... That disturbance was cleared by late morning, although 50 trucks and around 100 taxis cut off another Total refinery outside the Mediterranean port city of Marseilles... Other protests by slow-driving truckers took place near Nice, Lille, Cherbourg, Rennes, Brest, Lyon and Strasbourg... The secretary general of the French truck owners' federation FNTR, Jean-Paul Deneuville, said he expected an answer "by the end of the week" from the government on its suggestions for helping truckers, after a meeting with France's transport minister Dominique Bussereau on Monday... The French government last week announced 100 million euros in immediate aid... Strikes and protests by truck drivers have also taken place across Europe, from England to Bulgaria... (Photo: A banner reading "Road Transport in Strike" is displayed on the 600-liter fuel cell of a truck parked in Caen)
* UK - Truckers demand cheaper fuel (See Video)
London,UK -
Times Online -May 27, 2008: --
Hundreds of lorries were parked up on one of the busiest roads into Central London today as drivers took part in a rally against rising fuel prices... The hauliers came to a halt on a specially closed section of the A40 in the west of the city. Sounding their horns and carrying placards, the truck drivers called for the Government to cut tax on diesel in a bid to ease the impact of spiralling global oil prices... Shortly before 2pm a delegation arrived at Downing Street, where they handed over a letter calling for a tax rebate for “essential users” in the haulage industry... The letter said: "We are not faceless multinational companies. We are small and medium family companies built up over generations with hard work and determination. This situation is a crisis. Our colleagues are being driven to despair and bankruptcy on a daily basis"... * UK - Hauliers forgo fuel protest because itcots too much Derbyshire,UK -
The Telegraph, by CLAIRE DUFFIN -27 May 2008: --
Derbyshire hauliers have said they cannot afford to attend today's fuel protest - because of the high cost of diesel... Hundreds of lorry drivers will converge in London today in protest at soaring fuel prices, which have resulted in the average cost of diesel passing the 120p-a-litre mark... But firms in Derbyshire said making the trip to the capital would be too costly...
Tags:
fuel prices,
trucks
(The hauliers say fuel prices consume up to 60 per cent of their income) 
(Clashes: Spanish police arrive to break up a picket line by striking Spanish truckers in Iznalloz, near Granada) 
(A protesting farmer throws produce at riot police in Almeria, southern Spain)
(Fuel anger: An injured farmer kneels in front of riot police during clashes between fuel-protest farmers and riot police in Almeria)
(Mourners in Peligros, Granada, carry the coffin of Julio Cervilla Sojo, the Spanish picket who died on Tuesday after being knocked down by a lorry driver)
(Scorched: A man walks past a burned truck during a transport strike in Azamabuja north of Lisbon, Portugal)
* The Netherlands: Lorry drivers said they would limit speed to 30mph on a number of Dutch roads today in protest at calls for a diesel excise duty. They also want a system to stabilise diesel prices by lowering duties when oil prices rise and raising them when they fall...
(A shopper picks out the few remaining oranges at a supermarket in Madrid as shortages begin to bite) 
Tags: 