Tens of thousands of people, mainly students, took to the streets across Spain today to reinforce a nationwide trade union strike in protest at the US-led war in Iraq.
In the city of Barcelona alone, some 40,000 people crowded into the streets, according to journalists on the scene, chanting "Not a soldier, not a euro, not a bullet for this war".
The streets of Madrid were also jammed, with demonstrators waving banners that read "Against the imperialist war".
The General Workers Union organized a two-hour rotating strike throughout Spain in which members handed out 50,000 carnations to the public symbolizing peace.
Union members distributed leaflets voicing their objections to a war that they said "mutilates the Iraqi population, and whose effects undermine the foundations for economic recovery".
The Spanish government, which has strongly backed the war despite public opposition, said public transport was barely affected, but the union said metro traffic in Madrid was significantly slowed down.
In the eastern coastal city of Valencia, union sources said around 2,000 employees of US auto giant Ford stopped production to gather under an olive tree outside the factory and observe a moment of silence in honor of war victims in Iraq, including two Spanish journalists.
AFP