Mercamadrid has begun the general strike day of this 11 November with normal activity, after the first few hours were marked by moments of tension and police charges against information pickets around 4.00 a.m.
By around 6.30 a.m., the operation of the large wholesale market was no longer reflecting the incidents that had marked the start of the stoppage, in which the unions have denounced that Police agents would have charged against workers and employees with pepper spray.
The general secretary of CC.OO. Madrid, Paloma López, has reproached, in statements sent to the media, the “police brutality” against the pickets in Mercamadrid.
She has said that the agents charged in a “totally unjustified” manner in an action that has resulted in thirteen people being attended to by Samur-Protección Civil “for bruises, due to beatings, and irritation in the eyes from the use of pepper spray”.
“From the beginning, the agents have made it difficult for the pickets to work to inform about the strike, as well as to leave the area in which they had been locked up to a final group of people,” she criticized. The union has said on social media that one person has been detained.
From UGT, they have insisted that the National Police is not “going to silence” their voice and their struggle and have warned that they will not take “a single step back.” The distribution platform, the largest distributor of fresh products in the country, was listed among the strategic points identified by the Madrid City Council to ensure the necessary services that would guarantee supply.
After those initial moments of tension, the site has been filling up with trucks, handcarts, and workers, restoring the image of routine to the logistics platform “like a normal day.” This is what Luis explained to Europa Press, from the fish warehouse.
“They have not prevented the trucks from entering,” he said next to a colleague, while they were waiting for more buyers to arrive. Both have admitted, however, that despite the appearance of normality, it is a day “a bit weaker in sales.” They also commented that this Tuesday they detected an increase in customers who brought their purchases forward to stock up “because of the risk” that the strike would end up affecting the operation of Mercamadrid.
In similar terms, María José, a worker in the fruit warehouse, has spoken to Europa Press. She arrived at around 3:00 a.m. and has been able to access the premises "normally." "I'm a bit bored; fewer people are coming in," she said, adding that she senses a certain "fear" among shoppers about approaching this November 11.
Under the rain and with the relentless movement of trucks, the scene has been so normal that some, like Adolfo, "didn't even know there was a strike."