March 16 (Reuters) - The global financial crisis has sparked
protests in many parts of Europe this year. Over the weekend
there were demonstrations in Portugal, Russia, Hungary and
Bulgaria. Here are some details:
* denotes an updated item
BOSNIA -- Bosnia's Muslim-Croat parliament cancelled a
session on Feb. 26 rather than confront protesters complaining
about plans to cut benefits to narrow a big budget gap.
BRITAIN -- British workers held a series of protests at
power plants against the use of foreign contractors on critical
energy sites. They voted to end strikes on Feb. 5 after Total
agreed to hire more British workers at its Lindsey oil refinery.
BULGARIA -- Hundreds of workers at Bulgaria's Kremikovtzi
steel mill protested on March 9 over planned lay-offs and unpaid
salaries, demanding the Socialist-led government find a buyer
for the insolvent plant.
* Thousands of police officers marched in Sofia on Sunday to
demand a 50 percent wage rise and better working conditions.
CZECH REPUBLIC -- Thousands of farmers from the Czech
Republic, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia and Poland
marched through Prague on March 12 to demand higher milk prices
and subsidies to boost incomes hit by the economic crisis.
FRANCE -- Up to 2.5 million people demonstrated around
France on Jan. 29 over pay and job protection. On March 5,
unions and authorities signed a deal to end a six-week general
strike over wages and prices that had paralysed France's
Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. A union leader was killed, shops
were burned and looted in the protests.
-- Thousands of workers marched in France's Indian Ocean
territory La Reunion on March 5 and on March 10 in a campaign of
strikes and protests to push for wage increases.
-- France's eight union federations have called for a day of
action on March 19 to demand government and business do more to
protect jobs and salaries during the economic crisis.
GERMANY -- 15,000 Opel workers from Germany rally on Feb. 26
at the German HQ of their struggling company, demanding parent
General Motors scrap plans for plant closures in Europe.
* GREECE -- The fatal police shooting of a 15-year old in
December sparked the country's worst riots in decades, fuelled
by anger at economic hardships and youth unemployment.
Anarchists and left wing guerrilla groups have followed up with
a wave of attacks against banks and police.
-- Greek unions, representing about 2.5 million workers,
have also staged repeated protests against the government saying
its measures to tackle the global crisis only burden the poor.
* HUNGARY -- Police used teargas to disperse a group of
anti-government protesters in Budapest March 15 and detained a
total of 35 people.
IRELAND -- Nearly 100,000 people marched through Dublin on
Feb. 21 to protest at government cutbacks in the face of a
deepening recession and bailouts for the banks.
LATVIA -- A new Latvian prime minister was appointed on Feb.
26 after coalition government collapsed, the second to succumb
to the financial crisis after Iceland. The agriculture minister
quit on Feb. 3 after protests by farmers over falling incomes.
LITHUANIA -- Police fired teargas on Jan. 16 to disperse
demonstrators who pelted parliament with stones in protest at
social spending cuts. Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius vowed to
press on with an austerity plan.
MONTENEGRO -- Aluminium workers on Feb. 9 demanded to be
paid and an immediate resumption of suspended production at the
Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica, a Russian-owned plant.
POLAND -- Up to 10,000, mostly arms industry workers
demonstrated on March 6 against lay-offs after Poland announced
defence budget cuts. In Gdansk, 3,000 workers protested against
power producer Energa's job cut plans.
* PORTUGAL - Tens of thousands of workers marched in Lisbon
on March 13 against the policies of the Socialist government,
which unions say are increasing unemployment and favouring the
rich at a time of crisis.
* RUSSIA -- About 1,000 demonstrators called for the
government to resign during a peaceful march in Vladivostok on
March 15, the latest protest linked to the economic crisis in
Russia. About 800,000 Russians lost their jobs in December and
January, taking the total number of unemployed to more than 6
million, or 8.1 percent of the working population.
* Sixteen steelworkers at ESTAR's Zlatoust steel mill,
suspended a hunger strike over wages on March 14 after
management agreed to some demands, but threatened to
resume the rare show of dissent over spreading economic
hardship.
UKRAINE - Hundreds of Ukrainians protested on Feb. 23, some
urging President Viktor Yushchenko to quit, others demanding
their money back from banks hit by the financial crisis.
(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit;
Editing by Jon Boyle)
