Eurozone crisis live: General strike in Portugal over austerity Police officers at the Rossio railway terminal this morning, ahead of the general strike in Lisbon. Photograph: Rafael Marchante/Reuters 8.34am: There are reports from Portugal that the metro systems in Lisbon and Oporto, Portugal's second-largest city, have shut down because of the strike, and that the ferry service linking the two sides of the Tagus river in Lisbon is also suspended. A worker, who is part of a picket line, stands in front of a train at the Rossio railway terminal in Lisbon as Thursday's general strike begins. 8.16am: Today's general strike has been called by Portugal's largest union, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP). It is opposed to labour law reforms, which remove restrictions on hiring and firing staff, and lowers the compensation payments due to workers. CGTP, which has strong communist links, hopes that all major public transport services would join the stoppage, including trains, the Lisbon underground and the ferry boats that take workers across the Tagus River to the capital. That would mean that people could be unable to reach their workplace, even if they don't support the action. Portugal's second largest union, UGT, does not support the action. It has called for restraint, warning that otherwise Portugal could see the regular demonstrations, and violence, seen in Greece. Jose Adelino Maltez, a political scientist at Lisbon Technical University, told Reuters that Portugal is unlikely to grint to a halt: I don't expect the country to stop, but we can expect a strong showing, maybe with some export-oriented companies halting output to give a signal that there is a strong unionized force in Portugal to be reckoned with. 8.11am: Here's today's agenda: General strike in Portugal: all day, with protest marches expected in Lisbon this afternoon • Dutch finance minister Jan Kees De Jager adddresses parliament: 9am GMT / 10am CET • Eurozone flash manufacturing+services data: 9am GMT / 10am CET • UK retail sales for February: 9.30am GMT / 10.30am CET • Eurozone industrial new orders: 10am GMT / 11am CET Today we're looking at Portugal, where a general strike has been called in protest at the tax rises and spending cuts being imposed by the Lisbon government. Unions have vowed to bring the country to a standstill, but it's not clear whether the public will respond. Elsewhere, the Netherlands' finance minister, Jan Kees de Jager, is due to address parliament in the Hague this morning on the debt crisis. On the economic front, we get manufacturing, services and consumer confidence data from across the eurozone, plus the latest UK retail sales. There's also some disappointing economic data from China to digest - factory output fell in March to a four-month low. Not a good sign for the global economy.