Strike Pickets Force Zara on Plaça de Catalunya to Close on 11N
Protesters closed Zara's Plaça de Catalunya store during Barcelona's Nov. 11 general strike, and staff left by a side door. Here is what happened.
A group of strikers shut down the large Zara store on Plaça de Catalunya around 12:00 on Wednesday, Nov. 11, during the general strike known as 11N, according to the Barcelona outlet Metrópoli Abierta. The people at the door numbered about a hundred, the outlet reported, and the store’s staff went out through a side entrance.
The closure was one of several actions by strike pickets (piquetes, groups of strikers who gather outside businesses to press them to stop trading) that reached the centre of Barcelona on Wednesday. Metrópoli Abierta’s live coverage of the strike said pickets were closing shops and restaurants downtown, in some cases while customers were still inside.
How the Zara closure unfolded
The protesters came to the front of the shop and shouted Vergonya, the Catalan word for shame. They stayed at the entrance and did not go into the store, Metrópoli Abierta said.
After a few minutes of arguing with the security guards and the people running the shop, the store’s managers chose to clear it. Employees left through a door on the side of the building.
Before leaving the scene, demonstrators wrote the slogan “Inditex Explota” on the entrance. Inditex is the Spanish group that owns Zara. They also ripped the Zara lettering off the front of the building. Other protesters standing nearby cheered as the shop shut, according to the outlet.
What this means for the city centre on strike day
Anyone shopping or working near Plaça de Catalunya on Wednesday could see the effects of the strike at street level. A flagship store on one of the city’s central squares was closed from midday, and the same coverage describes other businesses in the centre shutting at short notice as pickets passed.
The reports describe pickets moving from one commercial premises to another instead of staying in a single spot. Shops were affected, and so were restaurants that had diners in them when the pickets arrived.
Metrópoli Abierta published the Zara report as a breaking item and said it would add more detail on the day’s events as it gathered them. The outlet did not say whether anyone was hurt at the store or whether the shop had reopened.
Source: Metrópoli Abierta
