Police attacks workers' picket in Pamplona, unprovoked, injuring 25

It happened in the context of protests against the opening in holidays. Several large commercial centers (MediaMarkt, El Corte Inglés, Decathlon and others) had decided unilaterally and against all labor unions to open yesterday, sunday. Labor unions, for once united beyond ethnic lines, organized pickets against such corporative abuse and, in Pamplona, they decided to focus in El Corte Inglés creating a picket of some 600 people that chanted slogans and informed workers of their theoretical rights.

The picket was all the time under tight police control but at certain moment, the police chief returned with reiforcements and charged wildly against them, "without any sort of provocation", surprising even their own colleagues that were all the time on the spot.

El Corte Inglés is a large Spanish corporation created by a shadowy mafious individual of the Fascist era, that is infamous for its abusive labor policies (persecution of any sort of unionism, horrible working conditions) and for bribing the media with huge publicity campaigns so they don't criticise them. It was probably the corporation itself who pulled the strings so the police attacked the picket.

The unprovoked charge caused 25 victims, some of them elderly people. In spite of the attack the picket continued its action all the morning and continued at evening. The strike is also being called for today with further mobilizations. Many employees however had to work under threats of being fired.

Nevertheless the four trade unions (ELA, LAB, UGT and CC.OO.) considered the strike very positive with most workers seconding it and with many trade centers yielding to the workers' demands in advance and not opening this sunday. But they denounced the attitude of El Corte Inglés and its threats to the workers, demanding the intervention of the Work Inspection office in this regard.

Source: Gara.