The fishing fleets were among the first: Spanish, Italian and French fisherman refusing to put to sea because their catches would not cover the cost of diesel to get them there and back. Now it’s the truckers.

Tens of thousands of truckers in Spain, France and Portugal yesterday stepped up protests against rising fuel prices, causing mayhem on highways and blocking border crossings.

Spanish and Portuguese drivers began indefinite strikes, and lines of trucks up to 8km long formed on the French side of the border after Spanish picketers smashed the windscreens of foreign goods drivers who tried to enter Spain.

French and Spanish truckers also staged ‘go-slow’ protests, causing tailbacks of 30km in Bordeaux, France, and 20km or more around Madrid and Barcelona.

The drivers were all demanding action to offset the effect of high oil prices, now at record highs of over $139 per barrel.

Spaniards fearing fuel shortages queued to fill their tanks and 40 per cent of petrol stations ran out of supplies in Spain’s hardest hit region, Catalonia, according to one industry group.

Long lines formed at Spanish and Portuguese supermarkets after truckers said they could run out of fresh food in days.

“No one is earning enough money to eat any more: not the truckers, not the fishermen, nobody, and someone has to find a solution,” said Jaime Diaz, president of Spain’s National Road Transport Confederation.

Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch who famously sued the Clintons about two dozen times, thinks the answer is to sue OPEC. Somehow I don’t think this is going to help, though I admire his take on the photos of George Bush and Prince Abdullah holding hands.

David Bohrer/White House

“A lot of these politicians are in bed with the Saudi royal family,” he said. “It’s time to take the kid gloves off.”

[A funny image though, going to bed with kid gloves on and then ripping them off in the throes....]