Protesters enraged over austerity cutbacks and tax hikes have clashed with police in Madrid as the government prepares a new round of unpopular austerity measures for the 2013 budget.
Thousands gathered in Neptune plaza on Tuesday where they planned to form a human chain around parliament, surrounded by barricades, police trucks and more than 1,500 police in riot gear.
The demonstration, organized with an "Occupy Parliament" slogan, drew demonstrators weary of nine straight months of painful measures imposed by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
"The only solution is that we should put everyone in Parliament out on the street so they know what it's like," Maria Pilar Lopez, one of the protestors, said.
Lopez, a civil servant, and others are calling for fresh elections, claiming the government's hard-hitting austerity measures are proof that the ruling Popular Party misled voters to get elected last November.
Three of her seven nieces and nephews have been laid off since Rajoy took office, and she said the prospect of them finding jobs "is very bleak".
Spain is struggling in its second recession in three years with unemployment near 25 per cent.
The country has introduced austerity measures and economic reforms in a bid to convince its euro partners and investors that it is serious about reducing its bloated deficit to 6.3 per cent of gross domestic product in 2012 and 4.5 per cent next year.
The deficit reached $64.79 billion, equivalent to 4.77 per cent of GDP, through August, the government said on Tuesday.
Marta Fernandez Curras, secretary of state for the budget, said the deficit "is under control".
Spain has been under pressure from investors to apply for European Central Bank assistance in keeping its borrowing costs down.
Rajoy has yet to say whether Madrid will apply for the aid, reluctant to ask since such assistance comes with strings attached.
.aljazeera.com/
25/9/12
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