Spanish fishermen handed out fresh fish to passers by outside a government ministry in Madrid on Friday in a thousands-strong protest against rising fuel costs.
Fishing unions threatened to follow the lead of their French counterparts and stay onshore unless the government provided relief from fuel prices, which have quadrupled in five years.
Thousands of fishermen participated in the noisy protest outside the Environment, Agriculture and Fishing Ministry, blowing whistles and waving placards depicting dead fish.
Passers-by queued outside vans distributing 20 tonnes of fish caught on Thursday for free.
"This situation is unsustainable," said Elias Eijo, 38, one of four brothers who operate a fishing boat in Galicia, on the Atlantic coast of northwestern Spain.
He said fuel costs meant he and his brothers had no money to repair their boat.
The Spanish government, trying to tackle a steep economic slowdown caused by the end of a construction boom, has so far announced no measures to help sectors hit by rising fuel prices.
Truck drivers are threatening a strike from June 8 and taxi drivers are also planning protests over fuel. (Reporting by Ben Harding; writing by Jason Webb)
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