25,000 armed police were used to get traffic moving and restore calm after clashes between protesters and lorry drivers who refused to strike.

25,000 armed police were used to get traffic moving and restore calm after clashes between protesters and lorry drivers who refused to strike.Authorities promised to provide police escorts to drivers wanting to work in an effort to restore the flow of supplies across the country, after fuel pumps ran dry and supermarket shelves emptied.On Wednesday, a driver working for a non-striking company suffered burns to 25 per cent of his body when his vehicle was set on fire.The incident followed the deaths of two men – one in Spain and another in Portugal – who were run over while manning picket lines.
British tourists reported being targeted. David Copestake, 40, an estate agent with a holiday home on the Costa del Sol, said his car was pelted with stones. "One rock smashed into the windscreen, heading straight for my head," he said.
Despite 6,000 lorries being given armed escorts to deliver food, fuel and other supplies to markets and distribution centres, there were reports that some dairies and farms had ceased production. Some medicines are in short supply.
While most drivers went back to work on Wednesday with a promise of tax relief on fuel, two unions representing about 12 per cent of the nation's owner-drivers refused to back down.In Portugal, drivers called off their strike after they accepted a government package of measures including lower motorway tolls and tax breaks.