Protests in Madrid ahead of papal visit

August 18, 2011

By Victor Mallet and Pascale Davies in Madrid

Seven people were arrested and 11 injured in overnight clashes between Spanish police and thousands of demonstrators protesting in Madrid against the visit on Thursday of Pope Benedict XVI, according to police and emergency services.

An estimated 20,000 protesters demanding a fully secular Spanish state and an end to privileges for the Roman Catholic church marched into Sol, the square in the center of the capital. There they confronted thousands of young pilgrims who have come to Spain to see the Pope and celebrate World Youth Day, held every three years in a different city.

The stand-off between the two sides – despite faint echoes of the hatred between Francoist Catholics and anti-religious republicans during the 1936-39 Spanish civil war - were mostly peaceful and verbal. Police later broke up the anti-Pope demonstration and made the arrests.

“Abortion yes, pederasty no!” was a favorite cry of the anti-papal marchers, recalling the church’s opposition to abortion and several scandals in which priests have molested children in their charge.

They also chanted, “Less religion, more education!” and “Not with my taxes!”, a reference to complaints that the pope’s visit will cost Spain money, despite denials form the organizers, and to the fact that citizens can opt on their income tax forms to give 0.7 per cent of the tax to the church.

Groups of pilgrims, waving national flags from around the world, responded with cries of “More religion and more education!” and in some cases by praying on the pavement. One elderly Spanish man on the anti-Pope march, seeing a prayer group, shouted: “Not for me! I don’t believe in anything.”

The Catholic church expects more than 1m people, many from as far afield as the Philippines and Brazil, to welcome the Pope during his visit to Spain.

Among Spaniards, 71.7 per cent describe themselves as Catholics, about 10 percentage points lower than a decade ago, according to a survey published this month by the Sociological Research Center. Of these, some 13 per cent go to mass on most Sundays of the year, down from 19 per cent.

The proportion of atheists and non-believers has risen to 24.3 per cent of Spaniards from 14.6 per cent in 2001.

But the anti-papal demonstrators hold a wide range of views. Some are atheists, some are liberal Catholics who support a secular state, and many are drawn from the ranks of the “indignados” (the indignant ones) who staged the anti-establishment protests across Spain that began in May.

Source: Financial Times.
Link: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a2f7c152-c97d-11e0-9eb8-00144feabdc0.html.