General strikes against the war in Italy and Greece and mass mobilisations of the students in Spain and Austria Share TweetAs war broke out in Iraq mass antiwar protests erupted all over the world. In Italy a general strike was organised. Tomorrow there will be a general strike in Greece. While in Spain huge student demonstrations have taken place in many instances involving large numbers of workers. Similar protests are developing in Australia, Germany, Austria and many other countries. As the reports come in we will keep you updated. (March 20, 2003, 18.00 London UK time)Today (Thursday, March 20) in Italy the three main trade union confederations called a two-hour general strike against the war. It started at 3pm (Italian time). However in some sectors strikes had already started this morning. For example the CGIL’s public sector union called a full day’s strike so that its members could attend the demonstrations that have taken place all over Italy.In Milan all the major factories came out and joined a massive demonstration in the city centre of up to 100,000. A large number of students were also on the demo. In Turin the FIAT workers held factory assemblies and then came out together with workers from all the major factories. The Turin council workers also came out and there were strikes outside Turin in the surrounding Piedmont region. There were also 25,000 students who marched to the city centre from ten different areas. This was one of the biggest student demos in Turin for many years.This mood even affected the middle class layers. One of the shopkeepers unions called for a symbolic closure of the shops for a few minutes, and even the Catholic Church got involved, with the local cardinal calling on all local parish priests to ring the church bells at midday in protest!In the Genoa and Savona docks a 24 hour strike was called. Down in Reggio Emilia the Lamborghini workers came out. In Venice the shipyard workers and chemical workers came out on strike and also all the major hotels were brought to a standstill. Strikes also took place all over Tuscany, in the cities of Florence, Pisa, Pistoia, Prato. In the South the professors of Calabria University took part in the strike. The Alfa Romeo workers came out in the plant near Naples together with the Electricity Board (ENEL) workers.In Rome there were protest demonstrations in various parts of the city. Tiburtina station was blocked for half an hour and the main circular road around Rome was also blocked. Thousands of students protested outside the US embassy.and in Greece…A huge demonstration took place in Athens today. People on the demo say they have never seen anything like it. The school student section of the demo alone was 60,000 strong! All the schools in the city were closed and the students converged on the city centre. The metro was full of school students making their way to the demo chanting militant antiwar slogans. This afternoon the Greek TUC (GSEE) has called for a rally outside the US embassy in Athens. Tomorrow at 12 noon there is going to be a 3-hour general strike against the war with another massive demonstration in the centre of Athens, and then on Saturday there will be the demo that will be part of the international day of protest.and in Spain…As the war in Iraq started the mood in Spain was one of anger, since the Spanish government has committed its support to the United States led imperialist war, despite massive opposition from the Spanish population.The Spanish Student´s Union (http://www.sindicatodeestudiantes.org) had called for a nation-wide students´ strike and demonstrations on the day the war started. In Madrid, tens of thousands of students joined a Students´ Union rally while at the same time thousands walk out from the main universities and blockaded the main roads and highways.In Barcelona the demonstration was really massive with the Students' Union putting the figure at 300,000 marching in the main streets in the centre of town. Some 12,000 students, teachers and staff at the Autonomous University also walked out and marched to the nearby train station to go to Barcelona to join the main protests there. Other reports of students' demos are of 10,000 in Santiago de Compostela, 10,000 in Seville, 10,000 in Mallorca and 2,000 and Vitoria.The Students Union has made a public appeal to the leaders of the main trade union confederations, CCOO and UGT, to call a 24 hour general strike against the war. In Galicia, at the Bazan shipyards, supporters of the left wing of the CCOO managed to call a mass workplace meeting with 1,200 workers who voted to walk out on strike and join the students' demonstration.…also in AustriaThe latest is that there have been school student protests all over Austria, with a demonstration in Vienna of 8,000.
