MALLORCA TODAY - General strike starts without serious incidents

Reports from across Spain suggest that the general strike got underway at midnight without any serious incidents but with major police presences, but 33 arrests had been made by 07:00 and five police officers had been injured following clashes.

Some of the strongest picket demonstrations have been at distribution centres for food and provisions, while there are also significant cuts to refuge and local authority cleaning services.

In Mallorca, pickets started gathering before midnight in Palma to ensure that minimum services by the city's service operator were adhered with. No incidents have been so far reported on the island. At the airport, 50% of flights into the island are expected, cancellations having been made by some airlines. A worry is that fuel might not be available for planes and that, as flights do intensify this morning, there will be clashes with pickets.

Against the background of the strike, French newspaper "Le Monde" has caused some controversy by attacking Spain for the country having become "Europe's great problem" and saying that there are doubts in European circles as to Prime Minister Rajoy's ability to get a grip with the deficit and other issues.

Update: As usual, there are conflicting views as to how well the strike has been supported. In the Balearics, the unions say that it has had 68% support, the government says that support in the public sector has been a mere 16%. There have been marked differences, even down to the level of individual institutions. in Puerto Pollensa, for instance, while one school was open as normal with all staff, another was closed. The percentage of teaching staff on strike has been put at 23%. In some municipalities, rubbish collection has been taking place as usual, in others, it hasn't been. In Spain as a whole, the unions have placed support at between 77 and 85%, the government says that it has been less than the last general strike in 2010. The effect on air travel in the Balearics has been far less significant than had been feared; the level of cancellations has been just under 7% (29 out of 429 flights).

As far as any trouble has been concerned, incidents in Mallorca have not been particularly noteworthy; two arrests have been made following clashes between pickets and police in Palma, but otherwise relative calm has prevailed.