Madrid police fire rubber bullets as thousands surround Spanish Congress

Madrid police fire rubber bullets as thousands surround Spanish Congress












Madrid riot police have cleared Plaza de Neptune of protesters, with
about 200 officers securing the surrounding blocks. At least 60 people
have been injured and 26 arrested as police used batons and rubber
bullets to disperse the crowd.

­Local emergency services have confirmed that at least 60 people,
including eight policemen, were injured in clashes between police and
protesters, El Pais reports. One of the wounded is believed to be in
critical condition, while one of the injured policemen suffered a severe
concussion.

Riot police dispersed the protesters, dragging some
who had tried to get through police lines by their arms and legs. An
uneasy order was restored and reinforcements were brought in to try and
disperse the crowd.

Thirteen of those arrested have been
detained after a group of protesters tried to break through the police
barrier for the first time. Further arrests were carried out during the
following clashes, bringing the total number of arrests to some 60, El
Pais reported.

Authorities estimate that about 6,000 people took
part in Tuesday’s protest. Over 1,300 riot police officers were deployed
in the capital, which is more than a half the country's riot police
force.
Protests organizers have decided to repeat the protest and block the Parliament once again on Wednesday.




Reuters/Susana Vera



Reuters/Susana Vera


Reuters/Susana Vera


The poster reads "This certainly is Madrid without hope". (Reuters/Sergio Perez)
Thousands
of activists have congregated in Madrid’s Plaza de Neptune, 100 meters
from the Congress building, to protest Spanish austerity measures.
The
demonstrators pledged to march around the building, and called for new
elections. Metal barriers have been placed around the building to block
access from every possible direction.
Demonstrators waved banners
with the slogan ‘No’ written on them, in reference to the austerity
policies of the Spanish government.
Protesters said that today is a
key day to level criticism against politicians and the Spanish
government. The city stationed armored police vehicles bumper-to-bumper
around the parliament building, and announced that around 1,300 police
would be deployed to counter the protesters.



Reuters/Paul Hanna


Reuters/Paul Hanna


Reuters/Paul Hanna


Reuters/Andrea Comas


Reuters/Paul Hanna
The
organizers of the protest dubbed their movement ‘Surround Congress,’
and expressed hopes that thousands would turn out. The protestors called
themselves ‘indignants’ and claimed that their democracy had been
‘kidnapped,’ calling for new elections and rallies against the austerity
measures enacted by Mariano Rajoy’s government.
Some 200 demonstrators gathered near the city’s main railway station chanting “Rescue democracy,” and “This is not a crisis, it’s a swindle.”



Reuters/Susana Vera


Reuters/Susana Vera


Reuters/Andrea Comas
Carmen Rivero – a 40-year old photographer who travelled overnight by bus from the southern city of Granada – said, “We
think this is an illegal government. We want the parliament to be
dissolved, a referendum and a constituent assembly so that the people
can have a say in everything.”
Another 100 protesters were scattered across the city’s main square, the Plaza de Espana.
“This
is not a real democracy. This is a democracy kidnapped by the parties
in collaboration with the economic powers and the people have no say in
it,” said Romula Barnares, a 40-year-old artist wearing sunglasses with a dollar sign on one lens and a euro sign on another.



AFP Photo/Pierre-Philippe Marcou


AFP Photo/Pierre-Philippe Marcou


AFP Photo/Pierre-Philippe Marcou
­Austerity
has hit every Spanish family and caused people who had been core
supporters of the public sphere out of the country, says Carlos Delclos,
a sociologist at Pompeu Fabra University.
“Austerity right
now is at the level where it’s affecting people’s daily lives. It is
affecting whether or not people can get medical attention, whether or
not people can advance socially through education and social progress,” Delclos told RT. “What
you are seeing is a country where an entire generation is being
relegated to a class of emigrants. People who have been investing into
public money are now going to move out and generate wealth in other
countries. That’s not a project for our country.”



Protestors gather close to Spain's Parliament ahead of a demonstration in Madrid September 25, 2012. (Screenshots from AP video)
But
Miguel-anxo Murado, a journalist and writer, told RT that he thought
their demands are too vague and that they would not be successful, “it
seems that they are back with the same very vague and ambitious
platform and in-fact they have been over shadowed by a different
constitutional challenge, which is for the independence movement in
Catalonia, which is more likely to change the constitution, although in a
different way, so I’m afraid they will probably not have a huge success
today.”
Spain is in the middle of its second recession in two years, and faces a 25 percent unemployment rate.



Madrid, September 25, 2012. (Screenshots from AP video)
Madrid
introduced the controversial austerity measures in a gesture meant to
show that it intends to fix its debt and budgetary shortfalls. The
European Central Bank granted Spain a 100 billion euro rescue loan for
its banks, but the country has not decided whether to seek another
bailout.
Europe’s financial leaders are pleading for Spain to
reduce volatility in its markets by deciding whether or not to request
the second loan.
During a September 15 protest, waves of some
50,000 anti-austerity demonstrators converged in downtown Madrid,
blowing whistles and hoisting banners that read, “They are destroying the country, we must stop them.” Representatives from over 230 civic and professional organizations also turned out amid cries of “lies,” and “enough.”



Protestors
gather close to Spain's Parliament ahead of a demonstration in Madrid
September 25, 2012. (Image from twitter user @sofalizacion)


Madrid, September 25, 2012. (Screenshots from AP video)


People
gather at the Plaza Espana square before taking part in a demonstration
organized by "indignant" protesters to decry an economic crisis they
say has "kidnapped" democracy, on September 25, 2012 in Madrid. (AFP
Photo / Dominique Faget)


A
man holds a placard reading "Spain on sale" during a demonstration by
Spain's "indignant" protesters to decry an economic crisis they say has
"kidnapped" democracy, on September 25, 2012 in Madrid. (AFP Photo /
Dominique Faget)


Protestors gather close to Spain's Parliament ahead of a demonstration in Madrid September 25, 2012. (Reuters / Andrea Comas)

http://rt.com/news/spain-protests-parliament-crisis-942/




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9/25/2012 11:25:00 PM

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