Thousands of protesters in Spain defied a ban on demonstrations that was initiated on Friday and continued their rally against austerity cuts, media reports said.
Protesters in Madrid cheered after the ban came into effect on Saturday, then chanted, “Now we are all illegal,” reported AFP.
Protesters are furious over the country’s high unemployment rate. Spain has the highest in the European Union at around 21 percent. And among 18 to 25-year-olds, the jobless rate has skyrocketed to about 25 percent.
In recent months, the Spanish government has setup severe austerity cuts to deal with its debt problems. Debt has crippled several EU countries, such as Ireland and Portugal, which have both had to be bailed out by the eurozone.
Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba did not mention if the government will deploy riot police to disperse the protesters, reported The Associated Press.
“The police are not going to resolve one problem by creating another,” he said, according to the news agency.
Since May 15, the protest movement started gathering in major cities throughout the country and is only getting larger, reported AFP.
In Madrid alone, more than 19,000 people gathered in Puerta del Sol, the town’s central square, and many protesters mentioned Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the site of many protests that led to the eventual dissolution of Egyptian government ruled by President Hosni Mubarak in February.
The organizers of the demonstrations said that they have no affiliation with any political parties and are not urging people against voting in the upcoming elections, reported AP. They said that the protests are more about taking an ideological stance against the government.
“Campaign posters are still going to be up, so why ban people from freely mingling to exchange ideas,” graphic designer Antonio Quiroga told AP.
Protesters in Madrid cheered after the ban came into effect on Saturday, then chanted, “Now we are all illegal,” reported AFP.
Protesters are furious over the country’s high unemployment rate. Spain has the highest in the European Union at around 21 percent. And among 18 to 25-year-olds, the jobless rate has skyrocketed to about 25 percent.
In recent months, the Spanish government has setup severe austerity cuts to deal with its debt problems. Debt has crippled several EU countries, such as Ireland and Portugal, which have both had to be bailed out by the eurozone.
Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba did not mention if the government will deploy riot police to disperse the protesters, reported The Associated Press.
“The police are not going to resolve one problem by creating another,” he said, according to the news agency.
Since May 15, the protest movement started gathering in major cities throughout the country and is only getting larger, reported AFP.
In Madrid alone, more than 19,000 people gathered in Puerta del Sol, the town’s central square, and many protesters mentioned Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the site of many protests that led to the eventual dissolution of Egyptian government ruled by President Hosni Mubarak in February.
The organizers of the demonstrations said that they have no affiliation with any political parties and are not urging people against voting in the upcoming elections, reported AP. They said that the protests are more about taking an ideological stance against the government.
“Campaign posters are still going to be up, so why ban people from freely mingling to exchange ideas,” graphic designer Antonio Quiroga told AP.
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