Millions tell austerity-obsessed governments: stop the cuts

General strikes were held in Spain and Portugal, workers in Greece and Italy downed tools for several hours, rail workers walked out in Belgium and demonstrations were held across France.

Hundreds protested outside the European Commission's building in London, one of 18 different solidarity demonstrations held in Britain.

And thousands of others joined rallies all across Europe.

The historic strikes and demonstrations were called by the European Trade Union Confederation in response to the "social emergency."

Spanish demonstrators came out in force on Tuesday night and unions said most of the country stayed away from work and joined one of the many huge rallies.

Italian workers, furious at unelected technocrat Mario Monti's savage cuts, co-ordinated rolling strikes that brought air, sea and rail transport to a standstill.

And thousands of Greek workers faced off with police outside the country's parliament in Athens.

Anti-poverty charity War on Want said one in four Greeks are now unemployed. Things are even worse for young people, three-fifths of whom are out of work.

"Today is an important moment for the movement resisting savage austerity. Workers and communities across Europe and around the globe are paying a terrible price for a crisis they did not cause," War on Want campaigns director Ruth Tanner said.

"(Britain's) government is continuing with failed economic policies which serve City bankers and tax-dodging corporations like Starbucks, Amazon and Google, rather than ordinary people."

Coalition of Resistance secretary Sam Fairbairn, whose group helped organise the London rally, said austerity had "unleashed misery" across Europe but it was "business as usual" for those who caused the crisis.

TUC general secretary-designate Frances O'Grady also addressed today's rally.

She said the government were allowing the "super-rich" to "snatch an ever larger share of the nation's wealth.

"We need investment to grow greener industries and jobs, especially for young people - around a million of whom are still without work.

"We need fair taxes to ensure big corporations pay their way and pay decent wages to all workers, not just to those at the top."