Reuters/AFP/Madrid/Athens
Spaniards protesting over the handling of the country’s economic crisis vowed to keep their tents in central city squares this week, as a wave of similar protests spread to other major European cities.Hundreds of people both young and old voted late on Sunday to keep a two-week-old protest encampment in Madrid’s main Puerta del Sol square going until Thursday at least, a move echoed in Spain’s second largest city Barcelona.Dubbed “los indignados” (the indignant), tens of thousands of demonstrators packed squares across Spain in a wave of outrage over high unemployment and government austerity measures in the run-up to local and regional elections on May 22.The elections dealt a crushing defeat to Spain’s ruling Socialists, who have had to balance voter anger over national belt tightening and investor demands for strict measures to keep the public deficit in check.Spain’s government has said it will decide with police whether to clear the protesters in response to demands from the Madrid regional authorities and local businesses.“I will continue to act with prudence, and the police too,” Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said.Police in Madrid have been in regular contact with the demonstrators. But the Madrid protest spokesman said police had told them this contact would cease as of today.“For the moment we are here indefinitely. We will decide depending on events,” he said.Madrid activists also wanted to protest “political oppression” in Barcelona, where anti-riot police fired rubber bullets and swung truncheons on Friday to disperse protesters in Plaza de Cataluna, the Madrid spokesman said.By that same evening, at least 5,000 people were back in the Barcelona square and some had put up tents. Police said they wanted to clear the square ahead of celebrations of Barcelona’s Champions League victory.The Madrid activists have constructed a mini-protest village beneath blue plastic sheets that stretches across the square, complete with solar panels for energy, information centres, a crèche, kitchens and lots of sleeping bags.The “Real Democracy Now” movement, also coined the “Spanish Revolution”, and has inspired similar demonstrations across Europe.In Greece, protests have drawn about 24,000 people to Athens’ central Syntagma square, and about 1,500 in the Northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, according to police estimates.Tens of thousands of Greeks vented their anger at the nation’s political classes in Athens late on Sunday, staging the biggest in a week of protests as the government seeks backing for yet more austerity.The huge crowd packed Syntagma Square in front of the Greek parliament, booing, whistling and chanting “Thieves! Thieves” as they pointed at the assembly building.“We’ve had enough. Politicians are making fools of us. If things stay as they are, our future will be very bleak,” said a 22-year-old student who gave his name as Nikos.Unlike the violent protests last year when radicals clashed with police, the peaceful crowds on Sunday were made up of ordinary Greeks, some of whom brought along their children.Greeks are angry no politicians have been punished for the corruption they blame for the crisis, as well as the dire state of the economy and waves of austerity demanded under the terms of a 110bn-euro ($157.5bn) bailout from the European Union and IMF last year.Greeks have been protesting on Syntagma Square for five days, fired up by similar demonstrations across Spain. They were joined on Sunday night by a small group of Spaniards who had come to show their solidarity, raising banners in Spanish.Spain has not had to seek an international bailout, unlike Greece, Ireland and Portugal, but it also faces major budget problems, lack of confidence in its debt, and demand for reform.Before the Syntagma Square rallies began, some Spanish protesters had accused Greeks of being too passive.But on Sunday, Ifigenia Argyrou, a 57-year-old insurance consultant, said all that had changed.“People were indignant but they needed a motivation to express that. The Spanish people gave us that motivation,” she told Reuters. “We are not sleeping, we are awake. The IMF should get out. There are other solutions without them.”Yesterday around 30 tents were laid out in Athens’ central square, as part of a daily gathering that kicked off last Wednesday and which is seen less politically motivated than traditional protest rallies called on by labour unions.“Finally, it was time we woke up from the lethargy. We feel the need to step forward, to state our disappointment, our disgust, our anger and end any kind of tolerance against all those who bear the responsibility,” a movement called “The Indignant Citizens” wrote on a blog.In Paris riot police cleared out the Place de la Bastille on Sunday evening after hundreds of protesters gathered on the steps of a popular opera house there, claiming solidarity with similar grass-roots movements in Spain and Greece.The crowd, seemingly made up of protesters in their mid-twenties, banged on drums, sat in the evening sunshine and brandished signs that read “Real democracy now”, “Wake up, Paris” and “Get Indignant!”Protesters estimated the turnout at over 1,000 and cited several arrests as well as some injured. Police said around 500 people had shown up.“We started these spontaneous gatherings around 10 days ago and they are growing,” said one protester, who asked not to be named. “At first we were just a few and now hundreds are showing up every day, with big spikes on the weekend.”