Pickets clash with riot police

At least six people were injured as pickets clashed with riot police outside Madrid's main bus depot in the first hours of the general strike called over legislation aimed at changing the country's labour laws.

The clashes came as dawn broke. Pickets trying to stop buses leaving the depot were charged by batonwielding police.

There were conflicting reports in the early hours about the response to the day-long general strike. Union officials said that many night shifts had followed the call to strike from the socialist-led General Workers' Union and the communist-dominated Workers' Commissions, which between them control some 80per cent of Spain's labour force.

But government officials described the situation as quiet and normal and said few workers had so far stayed away.

On Spain's Costas and in the holiday islands, the main concern was getting people to and from airports for their charter flights. In Majorca, Ibiza and Menorca alone, some 60,000 foreign visitors, 25,000 of them from Britain, are due to arrive or leave.

There are fears among tour operators that there could be a repeat of the scenes last summer when bus drivers staged a major strike leaving thousands of people queuing for hours in the hot sun for transport to their hotels or stuck unable to reach their flights home.