For those who have closely followed the Qasba demonstrations in Tunis, it is very difficult not to succumb to the emotional vertigo of a déjà vu to the images of young people from Monday dignify the Puerta del Sol Madrid
Tens of thousands of students, social groups and unemployed Spaniards rallied in more than 50 cities on Sunday to protest against government austerity measures and the role banks and political parties have played in the financial crisis. The events were organized by two activist groups under the banner of “We aren’t merchandise in the hands of politicians and bankers.” As in the cases of Tunisia, Egypt and other countries, the Internet and social media like Facebook and Twitter, have served as channels to call people to the action. With the proximity of local elections next weekend (to the governments of cities and autonomous communities), a citizens’ platform, called a protest against the current situation.
Protesters in Madrid marched from Cibeles square to city hall in Puerta del Sol, many wearing yellow T-shirts distributed by the Youth Without a Future group, which was founded in early April at the city’s university and helped organize the rallies. Thousands of protesters who say they are ignored by Spain’s political class gathered in a central square in Madrid on Wednesday night to demand reforms, despite an effort by electoral officials to impose a ban on demonstrations as Spain prepares to vote in local elections this weekend.
t the same time, the National Election Board of judges and academics was meeting in parliament to decide if the protest camps are legal and should be allowed to continue through regional elections in Spain on Sunday. Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero decided on Thursday to support the demonstrators while he was out campaigning. “It’s a peaceful protest, it deserves our respect,” Zapatero told a Socialist Party rally in northwest A Coruna. In a TV interview, he said politicians “must listen because there are reasons for the discontent.” The Take the Square protest group will continue the protests through election day “because we do not back any political party,” said its spokesman, Santiago Roldan.
As El Pais reports, the protesters defied a ruling by Madrid’s electoral board, which had refused to grant permission for a fourth straight day of protests in the Puerta del Solma a square in the center of the Spanish capital. The Spanish newspaper explains that electoral officials have good reason to fear that the demonstrators intend to affect the outcome of Sunday’s local and regional elections: “fed up with high unemployment and a faltering economy, demonstrators, mostly youths, are demanding a voting boycott against the major political parties.”
Following the board’s ruling, riot police officers deployed around the square, but allowed protesters to enter after checking their national identity cards, according to a series of updates posted on the English-language section of the El País Web site. A new Spanish youth group, Democracia Real Ya, or True Democracy Now, inspired by the pro-democracy movements in the Arab world, helped organize the protests, which began on Sunday, using social-networking tools.
Spain is only now recovering, albeit very slowly, from nearly two years of recession, and its jobless rate has soared to a euro-zone high of 21.3 percent. Youth unemployment is more than 40 percent in Spain, and prospects for significant economic growth soon are slim. Miguel Arrastia, 26, said in Madrid that protesters are angry that spending cuts and other austerity measures imposed to deal with Spain’s deficit and other problems are making people suffer even more. He is an unemployed surveyor. “This protest is a spontaneous thing, and I think it is happening at the right time because it is right before the elections and we are showing that no party is capable of dealing with this crisis,” he said.
As El Pais explained, the organizers are a diverse lot, yet “so well organized that they put together a security team of 200 people to prevent any trouble during the Madrid demonstration; they also had enough vision to use all the tricks in the book to keep the protest among Twitter’s most popular conversation topics in the world for the entire day,” using the tag #15m, to claim the date of May 15 for the start of their Spanish Revolution.
Tens of thousands of students, social groups and unemployed Spaniards rallied in more than 50 cities on Sunday to protest against government austerity measures and the role banks and political parties have played in the financial crisis. The events were organized by two activist groups under the banner of “We aren’t merchandise in the hands of politicians and bankers.” As in the cases of Tunisia, Egypt and other countries, the Internet and social media like Facebook and Twitter, have served as channels to call people to the action. With the proximity of local elections next weekend (to the governments of cities and autonomous communities), a citizens’ platform, called a protest against the current situation.
Protesters in Madrid marched from Cibeles square to city hall in Puerta del Sol, many wearing yellow T-shirts distributed by the Youth Without a Future group, which was founded in early April at the city’s university and helped organize the rallies. Thousands of protesters who say they are ignored by Spain’s political class gathered in a central square in Madrid on Wednesday night to demand reforms, despite an effort by electoral officials to impose a ban on demonstrations as Spain prepares to vote in local elections this weekend.
t the same time, the National Election Board of judges and academics was meeting in parliament to decide if the protest camps are legal and should be allowed to continue through regional elections in Spain on Sunday. Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero decided on Thursday to support the demonstrators while he was out campaigning. “It’s a peaceful protest, it deserves our respect,” Zapatero told a Socialist Party rally in northwest A Coruna. In a TV interview, he said politicians “must listen because there are reasons for the discontent.” The Take the Square protest group will continue the protests through election day “because we do not back any political party,” said its spokesman, Santiago Roldan.
As El Pais reports, the protesters defied a ruling by Madrid’s electoral board, which had refused to grant permission for a fourth straight day of protests in the Puerta del Solma a square in the center of the Spanish capital. The Spanish newspaper explains that electoral officials have good reason to fear that the demonstrators intend to affect the outcome of Sunday’s local and regional elections: “fed up with high unemployment and a faltering economy, demonstrators, mostly youths, are demanding a voting boycott against the major political parties.”
Following the board’s ruling, riot police officers deployed around the square, but allowed protesters to enter after checking their national identity cards, according to a series of updates posted on the English-language section of the El País Web site. A new Spanish youth group, Democracia Real Ya, or True Democracy Now, inspired by the pro-democracy movements in the Arab world, helped organize the protests, which began on Sunday, using social-networking tools.
Spain is only now recovering, albeit very slowly, from nearly two years of recession, and its jobless rate has soared to a euro-zone high of 21.3 percent. Youth unemployment is more than 40 percent in Spain, and prospects for significant economic growth soon are slim. Miguel Arrastia, 26, said in Madrid that protesters are angry that spending cuts and other austerity measures imposed to deal with Spain’s deficit and other problems are making people suffer even more. He is an unemployed surveyor. “This protest is a spontaneous thing, and I think it is happening at the right time because it is right before the elections and we are showing that no party is capable of dealing with this crisis,” he said.
As El Pais explained, the organizers are a diverse lot, yet “so well organized that they put together a security team of 200 people to prevent any trouble during the Madrid demonstration; they also had enough vision to use all the tricks in the book to keep the protest among Twitter’s most popular conversation topics in the world for the entire day,” using the tag #15m, to claim the date of May 15 for the start of their Spanish Revolution.
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