Huelga General Madrid

On March 29th there was a general strike held in Madrid. The Metro would be running minimum services that entire day, which implied that trains would run 15-20 minutes late. I had heard stories of violence occurring in these type of protests and was somewhat scared to take the Metro and thought of walking to class. After speaking with my host mom she said that these protests are generally peaceful and that I would be fine taking the Metro to class. When I arrived to the Diego de León metro station, I was surprised to see dozens of people waiting for the trains. I had never seen it so full. I decided to wait for a train for 20 minutes, yet once it got there, it was completely full and I was not able to get on it. I then decided to walk to class. That day, I ended classes late afternoon and so I thought the Metro would be less full this time around. I was greatly mistaken. I again waited 20 minutes for the train to come and when it came, it was again too full and I was not able to get on it. I decided to wait for the next train to come hoping that this time it wouldn't be full, yet again I was not able to get on it. Frustrated, I walked back home to my apartment. This made me think of the people who don't have the luxury of living so closely to their destinations on a day like this. They would have to plan their entire days around the new Metro schedules or have to pay a lot of money to take a taxi. In this sense, I think the general strike is effective, in that it completely paralyzes Madrid for a day. Something that I found interesting was finding out that in order to strike, organizations have to ask for permission and let people know beforehand of when it will take place. In the United States, strikes tend to spur in the moment which makes it even more frustrating because the people affected by it cannot anticipate it and plan accordingly.