Spanish police and Civil Guards cracked down on striking truckers June 11, with 25,000 deployed to clear blocked highways, arresting dozens. Catalan provincial police joined with French law enforcement to clear an eight-kilometer line of trucks that had closed a border post at Biriatou. Tens of thousands of truck drivers launched strikes in Spain and Portugal June 9, demanding government help to cope with the rising price of fuel. The protests paralyzed roads, closed auto plants, left supermarkets bare, and petrol stations without gasoline. On June 10, two strikers were run over and killed at picket lines in Spain and in Portugal. (AFP [2], La Voz Digital [3], Spain, June 12)
