The struggle against austerity steps up a notch as on November 14 an international general strike takes place across several European countries, with demonstrations and solidarity actions across the world. Please post live reports from the area in the comments below.

There will be official general strikes supported by most major trade unions in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. Rail workers in Belgium will join the strike, as will some unions in Cyprus and Malta. Solidarity demonstrations are planned across the rest of Europe, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey and across Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The European trade union federation ETUC has an action map of the biggest events planned: http://www.etuc.org/r/1897

Pictured above, French workers fired the first salvo in advance of the general strike as striking firefighters block tramlines in Le Mans.

In the comments below, please post personal reports if you were involved in any of the strikes solidarity actions, or if not please post updates from social media or new sources as the day progresses so we can build a good cross-section of the events.