Explosion Rocks Brazil's Port of Santos
A bomb exploded on Tuesday at the main power station of Brazil's top port of Santos but the port suffered no interruption in power, said the port authority Codesp. "The main power station collects energy from the regional grid and powers nearly all the port's operations. Energy supply was uninterrupted and police are investigating the nature of the bomb," said a Codesp Port Authority official. Santos, Latin America's largest port, has been in the midst of a dockworkers' strike since last Tuesday. A local labor court declared the strike an act of civil disobedience on Friday and ordered the workers back on the job. A high-tension power line tower that brings electricity to ship terminals at Santos was sabotaged early Monday morning, at which time a portion of the port shut down until 6 p.m.
Spanish Police Clash With Protesting Workers
About 30 people were injured last Tuesday when Spanish police used rubber bullets and smoke grenades to disperse protesting shipworkers in the southern city of Seville, authorities said. Around 700 workers took part in the protest at the Astilleros Sevilla shipbuilding yard on the Guadalquivir River to demand subsidies for the industry, despite European Union directives against such aid. Unions blamed the police for the violence. "The police were not interested in any mediation, they simply set about clearing the area using disproportionate force," said Ignacio Sanchez, a union representative at the shipyard. Workers armed with pieces of metal fought with police and set two cars ablaze as burning barricades.
