BARCELONA (Reuters) - Hundreds of health service workers and firefighters tried to storm the Catalan parliament in Barcelona on Wednesday to demand better working conditions.

The demonstrators crowded around the main doors of the parliament but police held them back.

Medical workers in white coats waved banners reading “Less talk, more resources”. Firefighters in brown protective uniforms and yellow helmets lit flares and burned an effigy attached to a wooden cross.

A primary healthcare workers’ union in the northeastern Spanish region called a strike for next week which is scheduled to last from Monday till Friday. The UGT firefighters’ union called for its members to demonstrate after failing to reach an agreement with authorities over pay and working hours.