More pushback as Portugal heats up

A general strike against austerity measures grounded flights and paralysed public transport in Portugal Thursday as workers protested a tough 2012 budget aimed at helping the country pay its debt.

Authorities cancelled nearly all flights in and out of the nation’s main airports, the Lisbon metro came to a standstill and ferries across the capital’s Tagus River functioned only intermittently in what unions said was a necessary bitter pill.

“The strike is a sacrifice for the good of the country,” said Manuel Carvalho da Silva, secretary general of the CGTP union, which along with Portugal’s other main union the UGT had called the strike action.

“It is a red card to the government for its actions that are driving the country to poverty,” da Silva said as he stood in front of a billboard listing cancelled flights at Lisbon’s airport....