Madrid - A hauliers' strike protesting high fuel prices was creating shortages Tuesday in Spain, where wholesale markets began to run out of fruit and vegetables, media reported. There was also concern over meat supplies if the strike continued.
Fish supplies have already been affected owing also to strikes by fishermen protesting the fuel prices.
Shelves at Madrid supermarkets were partly empty after consumers fearful of shortages had stocked up on food.
Police were escorting tanker lorries distributing fuel to petrol stations in the north-eastern region of Catalonia, where 40 per cent of petrol stations had run out of stocks as the strike began on a wider scale on Monday.
Police clashed with pickets trying to prevent tanker lorries from leaving the port of Motril near Granada. A lorry driver was injured, and a picket detained.
Police also arrested two pickets who were believed to have threatened a lorry driver and punctured his tyres in Irun at the French border, where vehicles formed files of up to seven kilometres.
Trucks blocked traffic on access roads to major cities. Toll roads were opened to all drivers to ease congestion in the Madrid area.
Several car factories said they were planning to partially interrupt production over a lack of spare parts.
The government continued negotiations with haulage companies, more of which joined the strike. Hauliers' associations are seeking cuts in fuel-related taxes and minimum prices for transport services.
The government is offering an alternative package, including lower social security payments and financial facilities to older drivers willing to retire.
The most serious social conflict since Socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero became prime minister in 2004, the protests were seen as the first major ones related to Spain's deepening economic slowdown.
Hauliers are staging similar protests in neighbouring Portugal, where there was also concern over possible shortages.
