Spanish drivers continue blockade

Press, 21 June 1980, Page 9

Spanish drivers continue blockade

UZPA-Reuter La Junquera, Spain

Lorries loaded with rotting fruit and vegetables blocked the border road between France and Spain at La Junquera yesterday as 1000 Spanish truck drivers continued their protest against attacks on their vehicles by French farmers.

The blockade began on Monday after French farmers protesting against imports of cheap food from Spain burnt 10 Spanish lorries.

Since then Spanish lorry drivers have blocked the road, the main gateway for north European motorists to i pain’s holiday resorts, demanding assurances of protection from the French authorities.

Riot police, Government officials and Costa Brava hoteliers worried about their summer trade have so far tried in vain to shift the lorry drivers, and traffic across the frontier at La Junquera has slowed to a trickle. The other main border crossing point at Irun, on the Atlantic coast, has not been affected. But the Spanish Employers’ Federation chief (Mr Carlos Ferrer Salat) has suggested Spain might ban the entry of all French lorries unless the guarantees demanded by the Spanish drivers are given.