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London faces a wave of bus and Tube strikes that could cause chaos for millions of passengers as unions walkout over pay and conditions
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'Scab' driver burned in his lorry as European protests against high fuel prices turn violent
Last updated at 12:00pm on 13.06.08
Violence has flared across Europe as hauliers, fishermen and taxi drivers protest against rising fuel prices they say are crippling their industries.
Some of the worst outbreaks were seen in Spain where prime minister José Luis Rodriguez pledged 'zero tolerance' of any disruption by 90,000 striking lorry drivers.
His warning came after a driver breaking the strike was burned when his lorry was set on fire.
Fury: A lorry driver whose cab was set alight after he crossed a picket line in Alicante, Spain, lies on the floor with serious burns
A British father and his son feared for their lives when a mob of Spanish truckers hurled rocks at their van.
David Copestake, 40, and son Dylan, 12, were pelted as they drove on a dual carriageway.
Mr Copestake, who has a chain of estate agencies in London, said: 'It was terrifying. One rock smashed into the windscreen heading straight for my head.'
Spain's road system was returning to normal after the interior ministry ordered police to get tough.
The government has reached a deal with most of Spain's hauliers on relief from rising costs.
In Portugal, lorry drivers agreed to lift road blocks after their union accepted a deal with their government.
But it followed the death of a man near Lisbon on a picket line.
In France, hauliers mounted protest drives on motorways. set alight in violent protests
Protests have now gone worldwide, with the Philippines and Thailand also seeing angry workers taking to the streets.
Spain appears to have been worst hit, with lorry drivers on either side of the dispute paying with their lives.
Hundreds of lorries and minibuses blocked roads in Manila leading to Malacanang Palace yesterday to demand the lifting of a 12 per cent sales tax on fuel.
Petrol prices there have risen about 24 per cent this year.
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.
In Thai capital Bangkok, tens of thousands of heavy lorries threatened to cause havoc as farmers demonstrated and fishermen have begun burning their boats in nationwide protests against soaring prices of fuel and other essentials.
Lorry drivers' leaders have warned the government it has until next Tuesday to subsidise their fuel or face at least 100,000 vehicles rumbling into Bangkok.
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.
One fishermen's group said more than half of the 50,000 fishing boats under its wing are being kept ashore because of the high cost of diesel.
Thai Airways International raised its fuel surcharges by up to 100 per cent on Wednesday due to the rising cost of jet fuel.
World crisis: Thai truck drivers block the highway during a strike protest against high fuel prices on a highway on the outskirts of Bangkok
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
Opposition groups in Malaysia have 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 was due today 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.
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.
Reader views (14)
To the people who are striking, Oil is a Finite Resource, and we cannot continue building highways and driving cars. Give up your cars and stop acting like crybabies about it.
- Scott Stinson, Rockville, USA
Once the cold northern deep freeze winter hits us later this year and gas prices and heating your home will have risen once again, the middle and lower class people of north America will wake up from their quiet slumber. When it comes down to basic needs and survival, humans are instinctive and community oriented. So the complaisance will soon die off and people are going to put things into perspective. The small percentage of the world's elite must stop looting the people with their illegal wars and neo conservative economic global agendas. The modern day global bourgeoisie needs to realize that they are abusing their power and setting themselves up for a backlash. I am confident the masses will have soon reaffirmed themselves and that the middle and lower class will act.
- Northern Canuck, Canada
Wendy Wasp is right on.
- Kim, Dallas, TX, USA
There is a storm gathering. Governments will be punished for forcing FIAT money on their populations. This is only the beginning.
- Andy White, Los Angeles, California
This looks like a scene out of an "end of the world" Hollywood style. It just keeps getting worse every day. Price of oil is going up. Gasoline price goes up a penny a day. Inflation is running about 15 to 30 % for the G-8 nations, food prices are going up. People are eating dirt to survive.
Sounds pretty bleak.
- Warren, Sumner, Washington, USA
"All of those doomsday sounding folks who talked about the effects of peak oil over the last decade are looking like spot on "
WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG. There is NO SHORTAGE of oil. Producers have simply limited production to hike the price, period.
- James, London
There is no oil shortage! If there were, gas would be rationed, long lines at the pumps. Non-essential travel would be curtailed. Gas would be rationed in the US to support the US war machine. Oil price is being manipulated in the commodities markets by speculators fleeing the stock market and hedge funds. Major banks who lost money during the subprime meltdown are making it back in greater numbers by providing credit to oil speculators driving up the price of oil using bank credit to leverage futures trading. There is no food shortage either. Countries where food is not being distributed to the people are ruled by 3rd world dictators warehousing tonnes of rice and wheat and they make their personal fortunes in the commodities markets. TIME FOR A REVOLUTION FOLKS, WE ARE BEING TAKEN FOR A SERIOUS RIDE!
- Wendy Wasp, Memphis, TN, USA
I see that "peak oil propagandists" have visited the comment section. There is enough oil and natural gas in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to supply every American for the next 200 years. All the holes that they have sucked dry and capped have refilled themselves and will suddenly produce when oil hits $250 per barrel.
Truth is treason, in the empire of lies
SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS
- Max Fortres, Tarpon Springs, Fl USA
Oil is a renewable resource. The problem is that they are creating an artificial bottleneck to create debt slavery. Keep everyone poor and helpless and you can control them more effectively. In other words get rid of the middle class and debt slave the leftovers.
- Jason, Fairfax, USA
Well the protests have begun here and our government still ignore us. What can we do? After all, we all live under a democracy, (or is that dictatorship)
- Graeme, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
And the perfect plan begins. Tell me again why we aren't trying hard for something different to use.
- Tim, KC USA
This is baby stuff. Wait for a few more years and there will be real shortages to deal with. Then serious disagreements will erupt. Why do you think they've tried turning Britain and the U.S. into a fortified police state? It's anticipation, not terrorism.
And the American media is useless--absolutely, to the bone, useless.
- Roland Ansgar, USA
Wow. I have long feared this exact type of situation right here in the USA, and yet every day everyone here just goes about their business as if nothing has really changed. Then I see that on the other side of the Pond, and in the Far East, all of this violence, disruption, etc happening and it makes me wonder how long before what is happening over there happens over here.
All of those doomsday sounding folks who talked about the effects of peak oil over the last decade are looking like spot on soothsayers now, as the downward spiral is happening as fast and strong as they predicted. Traditional Crude Oil of course peaked in late 2006 around the world. 2 years later we are starting to see the decline in production and it is being escalated by violence and disruptions caused by angry people.
Time to make sure my stock of foodstuffs and survival supplies are ready for craziness here.
- Joe Redd, Columbus, OH, USA
As far as I can tell, American media is not reporting any of these actions. Apparently, as a nation, we are okay paying more for gasoline than for food each week.
- Eric Richardson, Austell, USA
