The general strike of November 11 (11N), called to demand improvements in access to housing and wages, accumulates until 5:00 p.m. a balance of at least 52 arrests and 919 incidents throughout the national territory, according to data gathered by the Ministry of the Interior.
According to Interior’s count, between 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday and 5:00 p.m. on 11N, the National Police and the Guardia Civil have carried out 38 arrests: 15 in Madrid and eleven in Andalucía --four in Málaga, four in Almería and three in Granada--. In the Valencian Community, six arrests have been recorded --four in Valencia, one in Castellón and another in Alicante--, in addition to two in Zamora and one in each of the provinces of Navarra, Valladolid, La Rioja and A Coruña.
These figures do not include actions in Catalonia and the Basque Country, where it is the autonomous agencies that have reported their own tallies. The Mossos d'Esquadra have reported one arrest in Barcelona for the burning of dumpsters the night before the strike, while the Ertzaintza has notified 13 arrests, three people under investigation, and more than 150 people identified.
Reports of “police violence” and deployment of riot police
The strike day, driven in defense of the right to housing, wage improvements and public services, has been marked by moments of tension and protests over “police violence.” The unions have denounced the use of pepper spray against pickets that had moved out in the early hours to Mercamadrid and the Metro of Granada.
The intervention units of the National Police have been deployed in sensitive points such as Madrid’s Gran Vía, where some establishments have chosen to lower the shutter for fear of incidents. In this area of the capital, the protest resulted in two arrests for assaulting an agent of the authority, according to police sources.
Other arrests have occurred due to the burning of dumpsters and the carrying out of graffiti, as in Málaga, where four arrests have been recorded, as well as for alleged offenses of assault against agents of the authority, with one arrest in La Rioja.
Left-wing formations have joined the criticism by denouncing “unacceptable police repression,” assuring that some strike participants have been “assaulted, fined and arrested without justification.”
The State Secretariat for Security of the Ministry of the Interior had sent an instruction to the General Directorates of the National Police and the Guardia Civil so that they would organize the necessary deployments that would allow the development of the protests within the framework of the general strike, but avoiding blockades and "pickets that use violence".
In addition, Interior had ordered securing the protection of critical infrastructures, as well as industrial estates, central supply markets, and small businesses, with the aim of reconciling the right to strike with public safety.