Catalunia
Police dragged Catalan separatist protesters off highways this morning as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez began a cabinet meeting in the regional capital Barcelona in an attempt at reconciliation.
Dozens of protesters, some wearing high-visibility vests, sat on the AP 7 motorway, which runs down the Mediterranean coast as police in riot gear pulled them from the road. Some other roads were blocked with tyres.
One man was arrested in central Barcelona carrying materials that could be used to build an explosive device. Around 40 roads were affected by the protests.
Sanchez’s choice of venue was both a show of resolve against independence and also part of a strategy to secure the survival of his minority government with the aid of Catalonian pro- independence parties by offering them some more autonomy.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the 14th century building on the sea front in the historic centre of Barcelona where the weekly cabinet meeting was being held.
Bankia
The government plans to delay the sale of its 61 percent stake in Bankia until the end 2021 from the original date of before the end of this year.
The delay will be approved at the weekly cabinet meeting today.
The Spanish state is gradually selling off its stake in the lender after pumping 22.4 billion euros into a rescue package for Bankia in 2012 at the height of the financial crisis.
It is the second time the stake sale has been put on hold after the original self-imposed deadline of 2017 was put back.
The delay was widely expected after Prime Minister Sanchez said at end of November that market conditions were not right and highlighted its low share price.
Rail Strike
RAIL workers called off their planned strikes today and for Monday, January 7 after their unions reached a preliminary agreement with employers.
The CCOO union considers the proposed new contract with rail board RENFE and rail infrastructure entity ADIF to be heading in the right direction, and has decided not to go ahead strike action.
The CCOO says the provisional agreement reached ‘covers the lion’s share’ of workers’ requests, and allows for the possibility of ‘continuing to develop, through taskforces which due to be set up.
RENFE says only minimum services are guaranteed today on January 7 as it has not had formal notification of the strikes being cancelled, and because staff affiliated to the CGT union will still down tools.
Gymnasts.
Teenage gymnasts competing in a national tournament wore striped prisoner tpye outfits featuring yellow inmate numbers for a routine featuring music from a Holocaust movie.
The Royal Gymnastics Federation of Spain posted on Facebook a picture of one of the female gymnasts dancing while wearing the costume at the National Tournament of Rhythmic Gymnastics in Pamplona. More than 100 teams competed in the event from all over Spain.
In 2016, a Russian skating duo performed to the same music at an ice skating show while wearing striped uniforms similar to the ones worn by inmates at the Auschwitz death camp.
The Spanish team’s Facebook page drew angry comments from those who called it an insult to the memory of Holocaust victims. But others defended it as a touching tribute.