Lisbon/Madrid - Portuguese hauliers Thursday ended their strike after reaching a preliminary agreement with the government to alleviate the effect of rising fuel prices.

The government had shown "a clear and unequivocal will to solve the problem," hauliers' representative Antonio Loios said.

The three-day strike had begun to cause shortages at supermarkets and petrol stations, and Lisbon airport prohibited most planes from refuelling on Wednesday.

Traffic meanwhile appeared to be returning to normal in neighbouring Spain, where a hauliers' strike that had caused chaos on the roads and led to violent clashes went into its fourth day.

The Interior Ministry had deployed more than 25,000 police to keep traffic moving and to protect transport lorries from pickets.

Tens of thousands of lorry drivers were still on strike after the government and associations representing more than 80 per cent of the sector's workforce signed an agreement on 54 support measures to lessen the impact of fuel prices on Wednesday.

The strikers want a minimum price level for their services, a demand that the government rejects as being contrary to European Union legislation.

Police were escorting some 600 lorries to ensure the distribution of basic products.

Shortages of fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry, fish and other products nevertheless persisted at wholesale markets and smaller shops.

Fruit and vegetables threatened to rot at southern production sites, and milk in the north-western region of Galicia, for lack of trucks to pick them up. Hundreds of petrol stations remained closed.

The car industry had announced that a lack of spare parts threatened to bring the entire production, which amounts to
13,000 vehicles daily in normal circumstances, to a complete halt by Thursday.

About 60 truck drivers were detained Wednesday for trying to forcefully stop lorries or after clashing with police.

Farmers and fishermen are also protesting the fuel prices. More than 50 people were injured as farmers and fishermen clashed with police in Almeria and Seville in the south.

Representatives of coastal fishermen, however, reached an agreement with the government on subsidies to alleviate the effects of the fuel price hikes.

Traffic to France was moving normally after blockades were lifted at the border posts of Irun and La Jonquera.

The strike has claimed the life of a picket who was hit by a truck on Tuesday. Injured victims have included a lorry driver who suffered serious burns when his vehicle was burned in what appeared to be an act of arson on Wednesday. The Portuguese strike also claimed one fatality. (dpa)