Spain tries to avoid conflict with protest camps

May 30, 2011

Madrid - The Spanish government on Monday sought to avoid conflict with a two-week-old protest movement that has vowed to continue occupying city squares around the country.

The government and police would act 'prudently,' said Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, who has come under pressure from the Madrid regional authorities and shopkeepers to disperse hundreds of people from the capital's central Puerta del Sol square.

Police last week temporarily dispersed a similar protest camp in Barcelona. About 120 people were injured in the clashes, which sparked criticism of the police and a new wave of sympathy for the movement, known as 15-M (May 15).

Demonstrators who have returned to Barcelona's Catalonia Square announced over the weekend that they will stay put at least until Tuesday.

Protest camps were removed in some cities but were expected to remain at least for a few days in most parts of the country.

Meanwhile on Monday, the French consulate in Barcelona was forced to close its doors after about 20 demonstrators prevented staff from entering.

The protesters said they were acting in solidarity with about 1,000 French people who demonstrated against corruption and unemployment, and were dispersed by police from Place de la Bastille in Paris over the weekend.

However, the Spanish protest camps were beginning to experience problems such as insufficient electricity and outsiders coming to eat at their food stalls.

The M-15 was increasingly moving from central squares to neighborhood assemblies around the country.

In the Madrid region, more than 20,000 people attended over 120 weekend assemblies discussing proposals to improve Spain's political system, according to figures given by organizers.

The M-15 movement emerged a week before the May 22 local and regional elections. It seeks a reform of Spain's democracy, which it sees as corrupt and as serving the interests of financial markets.

The movement was launched by young people, but many older people have also joined it. A main point of criticism is Spain's 20-per-cent jobless rate. Among young people, unemployment exceeds 40 per cent.

The M-15 has already collected more than 250,000 signatures from supporters, according to representatives in Madrid.

It has also spread around Europe and Latin America, with about 40,000 people attending a rally in the Greek capital Athens over the weekend.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1642407.php/Spain-tries-to-avoid-conflict-with-protest-camps.