Strikers all but halted road, rail and air services in Spain on Thursday as part of a one-day general strike against austerity measures imposed by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s recently elected conservative government. Nine people were injured and at least 58 arrested, according to the Interior Ministry.

Rajoy’s reforms are designed to save tens of billions of euros amid an ongoing economic crisis, but it is unclear how the effort will reduce Spanish unemployment, which is the highest in the EU.

Follow The Guardian’s rolling coverage of the strike here. –ARK

BBC:

With the EU’s highest rate of unemployment, Spain is under pressure to reduce its budget deficit and bring its public finances under control.

“The question here is not whether the strike is honoured by many or few, but rather whether we get out of the crisis,” the country’s Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro said.

“That is what is at stake, and the government is not going to yield.”

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#austerity#conservatives#crisis#economic crisis#general strike#mariano rajoy#spain#strike