Domestic railway traffic ground to a halt in Portugal on Saturday as rail workers staged a strike against salary cuts, part of government austerity measures introduced to get international bailout funds. "Out of 58 trains that were due to run this morning as part of minimal coverage, only six ran," Ana Portela, a spokeswoman for the railway workers union CP, told AFP.

She said that the disruptions would continue until Sunday afternoon, though international traffic would not be affected. Saturday is a national holiday in Portugal and "except for emergencies, to which we will respond, there is no reason" to ensure minimal service, the president of the engineers union SMAQ, Antonio Medeiros, told the Lusa news agency.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012