Two killed as fuel protests intensify across the world

Two truck drivers have been killed on picket lines in Spain and Portugal as protests over soaring fuel prices continue across Europe and Asia. A Portuguese driver was killed when he was hit by a truck at a barricade near Alcanena, north of Lisbon, on June 10. Later, a truck driver in Spain was run over and killed by a van as he manned a picket line in Granada, police said. Tens of thousands of Spanish, French and Portuguese truckers and fishermen are on strike or joining the protests to demand government help to offset fuel costs. French railway workers began their own walk-out, increasing the transport chaos. In Britain, the government urged the public to avoid panic buying after tanker drivers threatened a strike at Shell petrol stations across the country. In Asia, truckers in Hong Kong and Thailand and tire-burning demonstrators in India and Nepal vented their anger after oil hit a record $139 a barrel. Many Asian countries are net crude importers, and governments have been forced to cut fuel subsidies and let pump prices climb. Pump prices have doubled or even tripled, putting a squeeze on households already struggling with higher costs of staple foods such as rice. Thousands of truckers went on a half-day strike in Thailand demanding government help. Transport groups said they were ready to block roads into Bangkok next week, piling pressure on a government already facing a prolonged street protest over its attempt to change the constitution. The protests have sparked fears of a military coup less than two years after the army booted out pro-business prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. South Korea's cabinet offered to resign in the face of huge street protests on June 10 against the policies of President Lee Myung-bak. Lee said Asia's fourth-largest economy could be heading into crisis because of surging resource prices and slowing growth. South Korea is the world's fifth-largest crude oil importer. Several hundred trucks and buses were used in a go-slow protest in Hong Kong, snarling traffic in that major Asian economic center. Drivers were demanding reductions in fuel taxes. Fuel taxes are also the central issue for truckers in Europe, because they account for a large portion of the retail price of fuel. Britain charges a flat $3.77 a gallon in fuel duty and imposes a 17.5 percent consumption tax on the total price. "We're doing this for our industry and our customers," said David McCutcheon, an organizer of a go-slow protest by scores of truckers in Scotland on June 10. "Our industry cannot sustain paying a 25 percent tax while the government enjoys the windfall and puts it in their back pocket." Protests began to hit home for consumers as Spanish news media reported that gas stations in some areas had run out of fuel and that some markets were reporting shortages of fresh produce. Tens of thousands of Spanish drivers continued go-slow protests on major roads, knotting traffic near cities such as Madrid and Barcelona. Traffic jams several miles long formed on June 9 at Junquera, a crossing on the French border, where Spanish drivers refused to let foreign trucks enter and smashed the windshields of those that tried to pass. The Spanish Interior Ministry announced that the first fatality of the demonstrations was a protester struck by a van at a picket line outside a wholesale market in the city of Granada. A ministry statement said the man was hit when the van's driver, who has been detained, accelerated when protesters started throwing rocks at him as he tried to drive past. The second death was that of a 52-year-old protester in Portugal who was run over as he tried to signal for a truck to stop on a road north of Lisbon, according to news reports. Retailers in the country have said food stocks at supermarkets are beginning to run out. Lisbon's main airport has run out of fuel because of the strike. Spanish authorities got tough as the trucker strike entered its third day, deploying riot police to lift the blockades at the border with France and clear roads around the capital. With supplies unable to get through, the country was gradually brought to its knees as gas pumps ran dry and supermarket shelves emptied. Around 50,000 Polish truck drivers held one-hour protests across the country although without blocking roads, the organizers said. And Dutch truckers announced plans to block roads at 18 points across the country for 30 minutes on June 12.