At the wholesale market entrances Mercamadrid in Madrid the Polizei during the night of 11 November picket lines were pushed back. After initial disruption at the start of the general strike at around 4.00 am, the market largely resumed normal operations in the morning. This is according to consistent Spanish reports, which say police intervened against blockades and the entrances were subsequently passable.
The operations targeted groups of pickets stationed at the entrances. The strike organisers and local trade union groups documented events on social media and sharply criticised them. Claims about the use of pepper spray and arrests also circulated. These claims cannot be independently quantified on the basis of the reports available so far. No official statements from the security authorities on injuries or investigations were available in the morning.
The Ministry of the Interior had ordered on 10 November that action be taken against violent or obstructive activities linked to the general strike to ensure security in industrial areas and at markets such as Mercamadrid. The aim was to safeguard the functioning of key supply structures. Following the measures taken overnight, observers reported no ongoing blockades on the main access roads to the market site; goods handling was said to have continued.
The sequence of events is therefore clear: police action against pickets at Mercamadrid overnight, followed by a calming of the situation and a return to normal operations that morning. Questions remain over the exact number of possible injuries and the extent of any arrests. Further official information is awaited. In the early morning, only initial and sometimes differing assessments were available of participation in the general strike as a whole.
Mercamadrid is one of Spain’s most important wholesale markets and is central to supplying the capital region. Accordingly, the authorities’ operational planning put the market site in focus at an early stage. Trade unions, meanwhile, stress the right to strike and to hold visible industrial action at symbolic points in the supply chain. Political and workplace responses to the overnight operations will therefore shape the rest of the strike day, as will any further clarification of the authorities’ account of events at Mercamadrid’s entrances.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).