Eight people were injured yesterday in clashes between National Police officers in riot gear and municipal workers in La Linea protesting against the delay in receiving their October pay.
The protesters have been carrying out daily morning gatherings since November 6th before heading into work in La Linea. This time, however, the police were ordered to intervene.
Versions of what actually happened vary, as one would expect. The authorities maintain that around 200 of the 900 protesters decided to leave the main group and the authorised route and had to be ‘stopped’.
The organisers deny this version of events, saying that they kept to the authorised route. They say that the protesters arrived marched towards the Customs Post at Gibraltar and, 800 metres from the post, they were confronted by newly arrived riot police from Sevilla.
They informed the police they had no intention of cutting traffic to the Rock and were going to follow the authorised route as usual. However, the police decided to charge and several people were injured, some suffering broken bones.