The general secretary of UGT, Pepe Álvarez, has given a "very positive" assessment of the general strike held this 11 November and has strongly criticized the police performance, which he attributes to "an zeal and an absolutely unacceptable excess" both in interventions against the early-morning pickets and in the charges against protesters in Madrid.
In an interview with La Séptima, collected by Europa Press, Álvarez explained that the trade union organizations have been "overwhelmed" by the response to the call. He noted that they had already seen "a lot of desire" for citizens to publicly express the situation faced by workers.
As he has indicated, the strike day represented "a slap in the face for everyone" who, in the last few days, had hurled insults at the unions or maintained that the strike would go unnoticed and would have no social relevance.
"They don’t know the trade union organizations, they don’t know this town, which is a town that fights and doesn’t want to lose rights," said the UGT leader.
Criticism of police action and the application of the Gag Law
Álvarez defended that the role of the Police in a general strike should be focused on guaranteeing the exercise of the right to strike, which he considers the main right to safeguard on a day like the one experienced. He denounced that during the night pepper spray was used against pickets which, as he described, were only trying to inform, something he described as "outrageous" and "absolutely unacceptable." He also accused the officers of having been "provoking young people" during the afternoon on Madrid’s Gran Vía.
At the same time, he wanted to make clear that his criticisms of the Police’s actions do not mean minimizing or justifying the episodes of looting which, as he pointed out, have been recorded above all in Barcelona. "That has nothing to do with the demonstration," he stressed.
The general secretary of UGT called on the Government to promote measures against the "abuses" he denounces and linked these behaviors to the absence of a total repeal of the 'Gag Law'. "We have to have a democratic police force," he said, before warning that "there are many people who doubt that an important part" of the Police "is and acts democratically".