Spain’s two largest fresh produce wholesale markets all but ground to a halt during 29 March’s general strike in the country, with traders at Mercamadrid reporting a 90 per cent drop in visitor numbers during the day.
Barcelona’s wholesale market, Mercabarna, was the site of a major protest during the early hours of Thursday morning, with union activists picketing the facility preventing trucks from entering the market and adjacent streets.
According to reports in Spain, striking workers arrived at the site at 10pm on Wednesday 28 and blocked all access to the market until 3am physically and by setting tires alight close to entrances.
From then onwards, strikers elected to allow trucks carrying fish and seafood to enter, but Europa Press reported that “all activity at Mercabarna was almost null and void” for the rest of the day.
At Madrid’s Mercamadrid market, very little indication of the strike was seen, according to reports, with fruit and vegetable traders open as normal. However, visitor numbers were reported to be down 90 per cent compared with a typical Thursday.
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