FACTBOX-Crisis sparks unrest in G20 countries

(Reuters) - The global financial crisis has sparked unrest in some of the G20 countries. Incidents include:

* ARGENTINA -- Argentine farmers declared a seven-day strike on March 20, halting grains and livestock sales, in protest against the centre-left government's refusal to reduce the levies on soy shipments.

-- The strike in a leading global supplier of soy, wheat, corn and beef escalated a long-running political battle between the farmers and President Cristina Fernandez. The farmers said they were being squeezed by a drought and a slide in global commodity prices.

* BRAZIL -- Oil workers at Brazilian state-controlled energy firm Petrobras began a five-day strike on March 22 in an attempt to cut crude output in protest over job cuts, pay and working conditions.

-- The workers' union said its members were angered that Petrobras had fired some sub-contracted workers. It said Petrobras had used the pretext of the global financial crisis to do so and also to trim workers' benefits.

* FRANCE -- Up to 3 million protesters took to the streets of France on March 19 in a second round of strikes and rallies called to denounce President Nicolas Sarkozy's handling of the economic crisis. Unions said on Friday they would keep up pressure on Sarkozy but would hold off on strikes until a meeting planned for March 30.

-- Up to 2.5 million people demonstrated around France on January 29 over pay and job protection. On March 5, unions and authorities signed a deal to end a six-week general strike over wages and prices that had paralysed France's Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. A union leader was killed, and shops were burnt and looted in the protests.

-- Thousands of workers marched in France's Indian Ocean territory of Reunion on March 5 and 10 in a campaign of strikes and protests to push for wage increases.

* GERMANY -- 15,000 Opel workers from Germany rallied on February 26 at the German headquarters of their struggling company, demanding parent General Motors scrap plans for plant closures in Europe.

* RUSSIA -- About 1,000 demonstrators called for the government to resign during a peaceful march in Vladivostok on March 15, the latest protest linked to the economic crisis in Russia. About 800,000 Russians lost their jobs in December and January, taking the total number of unemployed to more than 6 million, or 8.1 percent of the working population.

-- Sixteen steelworkers at ESTAR's Zlatoust steel mill suspended a hunger strike over wages on March 14 after management agreed to some demands, but threatened to resume the rare show of dissent over spreading economic hardship.

* UNITED KINGDOM -- British workers protested at power plants against the use of foreign contractors on critical energy sites. They voted to end strikes on February 5 after French oil group Total agreed to hire more British workers at its Lindsey oil refinery.

* UNITED STATES -- Dozens of protesters interrupted a speech by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on February 3, accusing him of ignoring the views of the poor.

-- Bloomberg was talking about his affordable housing plan at a conference of business people at a luxury hotel in midtown Manhattan when dozens of people entered the ballroom shouting and waving flyers.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Additional writing by Jijo Jacob; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)