epa03471046 Burning trash cans in the middle of the street after a police charge in front of the Parliament building during a rally against austerity measures and troika in Lisbon, Portugal, 14 November 2012. General strikes on 14 November partially paralyzed public transport in Spain and Portugal as smaller labour protests were planned across Europe. The first joint general strike on the Iberian Peninsula was called to protest government austerity policies that trade unions see as strangling the economy and impoverishing the population. The strike affected rail and bus traffic, the Madrid and Lisbon undergrounds, ports, factories, cleaning services and wholesale food markets, according to union representatives. EPA/JOSE SENA GOULAO +++(c) dpa – Bildfunk+++