Videos and photos of pro-Palestine protests that forced Vuelta to stop

A day of heavy pro-Palestine protests on the roadside - and in the middle of the road at times - eventually forced the Vuelta stage to be abandoned

A day of heavy pro-Palestine protests on the roadside - and in the middle of the road at times - eventually forced the Vuelta stage 11 to be abandoned in Bilbao today.

Though there were a number of protests since the stage entered Spain after the first stages in Italy, one notable feature has been the sheer number of people with Palestine flags by the roadsides building in recent days.

That activity has morphed into more forceful protests, which have spilled out onto the roads, especially yesterday and today. The policing presence on the race - including riot squad officers - has been notably increased in response to the changing security environment.

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And on today's stage 11 - which started and finished in Bilbao - the race organisers decided to call a halt to the action 3km from the official finish, mainly because of the sheer number of protestors on the finishing straight.

"Due to some incidents at the finish line, we have decided to take the time at 3 kilometres before the line," the organisers said as the racing was intensifying with about 15km to go. "We won't have a stage winner. We will give the points for the mountain classification and the intermediate sprint, but not on the finish line."

More to come.

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