Portuguese hauliers have returned to work after their union reached an agreement with the governement. In Spain, police cracked down on striking truckers, clearing highways and arresting dozens.

Spanish police cracked down on striking truckers, clearing blocked highways and arresting dozens, and Portuguese hauliers returned to work Thursday as chaos and shortages caused by the fuel protests began to ease.

In a joint operation late Wednesday, Spanish and French police cleared an eight-kilometre (five-mile) line of trucks that had closed a highway border post by the western Spanish town of Biriatou since Sunday.

Spanish officers had earlier moved in to clear a second border crossing to France, on a motorway at the northeastern town of Jonquera.

Tens of thousands of truck drivers launched strikes in Spain and Portugal  on Monday, demanding government help to cope with the rising price of fuel caused by rocketing oil prices, which last week reached almost 140 dollars a barrel.

The protests paralysed roads, causing huge tailbacks, and left supermarkets bare of fresh produce and some petrol stations without supplies. They also forced Spanish auto plants to halt production as they ran out of spare parts, and Lisbon's airport to bar planes from refueling.

On Tuesday, two strikers were run over and killed at picket lines, in Spain and in Portugal, as the protests turned violent.

The Spanish government on Wednesday adopted a tough line with the strikers, deploying 25,000 police to clear roads and ensure deliveries of essential goods.

Spain's interior ministry said 71 truckers had been arrested since Wednesday for "illegal actions" on picket lines, markets and roads across the country, including some at the French-Spanish border.

"The situation is normal on all roads," it said in a statement.

It said 6,025 trucks carrying food, medicines and fuel were given police escorts in order to resupply shops and markets.

In Portugal, truckers ended their strike after their union reached agreement with the government.

"We are lifting the blockade of all trucks involved in the stoppage," Antonio Loios, spokesman for the strike organisers, told TSF radio, after the ANTRAM union announced late Wednesday that a compensation deal had been agreed.

"All trucks will now be able to move with no problems," Loios said, praising the government for "good faith" in the negotiations, in which it granted tax relief and reduced highway tolls for truckers.

In Spain, the strike officially continued for a fourth day Thursday. The country's main taxi drivers union also announced it has called a national stoppage for Friday.

The transport ministry late Wednesday signed a deal with non-striking road hauliers on 54 measures to ease the economic impact of fuel costs on the industry.

Transport Minister Magdalena Alvarez said representatives of 88 percent of the sector had signed the deal, and called on the remaining 12 percent to call off their strike.

The striking unions are demanding a minimum rate of compensation for the high fuel costs, something the government has refused as contrary to the principles of free trade.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero appealed to all truckers to return to work, warning there would be "zero tolerance" for those who used violence against their non-striking colleagues.

In Britain, negotiations were underway Thursday between the unions and management at two road haulage firms to avoid a threatened strike by around 500 drivers of oil trucks on Friday.

The strike could affect about 10 percent of petrol stations across the country.

Long queues have formed at many British petrol stations since Wednesday as motorists feared the pumps could run dry.

In the Netherlands, truckers Thursday blocked roads at 18 points throughout the country for about half an hour by driving at 50 kilometres per hour, provoking 100 kilometres of traffic jams, the country's automobile club, ANWB, said.

www.france24.com/en/20080612-trucker-strike-ends-portugal-roads-cleared-spain-europe-fuel-prices