Spanish Protests Swell as Jobless March on Madrid
Hundreds of unemployed Spaniards who had travelled hundreds of kilometers (miles) on foot to Madrid joined protests on Saturday against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government and its handling of an economic crisis in the EU country.
Demonstrations have swelled across Spain since the center-right government announced 65 billion euros in new spending cuts two weeks ago to satisfy the conditions of a euro zone bailout, with firefighters and police joining a mass protest on Thursday.
Several hundred jobless people journeyed on foot from the southern region of Andalucia, which has one of the worst unemployment rates in the country, northern Catalonia and other areas in an attempt to highlight the plight of the unemployed in recession-hit Spain, where almost one in four is without a job.
A march was planned for Saturday night towards Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, a central square that has been the scene of protests involving hundreds of thousands of demonstrators. Violence erupted at a protest earlier this month and police used teargas and rubber bullets.