Thousands march to protest austerity cuts in Spain

October 6, 2012 @ 2:23 pm


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MADRID (AP) - Several thousand people marched in downtown Madrid on Saturday to protest austerity measures they say will lead to cuts in cherished national health care and the privatization of public services.

Marching under banners reading "Neither cuts nor privatizations," many protesters were civil servants hit with a wage freeze next year.

Spain is experiencing its second recession in three years, is burdened with an unemployment rate of nearly 25 percent and social unrest is on the rise. The number of people registered unemployed rose to 4.71 million in September as the tourism season ended and businesses let workers go.

"I work in a hospital, but I'm about to end up unemployed," 58-year-old nurse Victoria Gutierrez said. "On Oct. 30, my temporary contract will finish and it won't be extended.

"We have minimum cover on every floor at every hospital," she said. "This is affecting not just hospitals, also education and civil services, everything."

The government has pushed through nine straight months of tough austerity measures which have prompted Spain's 17 regional governments, some of which are heavily indebted, to slash spending in health care and education.


(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (7)


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  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    First Greece...now Spain...
    May 13, 2012 9:26 am
    ...next, the U.S. if Owebama is re-elected.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CldWtrSrf wrote...
    It's too bad that
    July 19, 2012 12:23 pm
    All the Banksters of the Big 6 Banks have signed the U.S. and other countries around the world onto THEIR debt, telling us it's ours. Step 1. Instal former employees to positions of power in governments. Step 2. Get said former or future employees to sign onto fraudulent debt. Step 3. Implode World Economy. Step 4. Take over World. Face reality HPD. WE or THEY DON'T OWE THAT MONEY. The banks have signed us onto FRAUDULENT DEBT created by Criminal Activities and gambling. But you are a good little Republican, so we have to bail out the banks right.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hnuh wrote...
    07-19-2012 Massive protests in Spain against...
    July 19, 2012 3:33 pm
    Tools, all of them...(and most of us, too)... No concept of a relationship between government and citizen. Vote for the people who promise the goodies. Vote for more, more, more government, and thus more goodies. Never a care for this consideration: The working people pay for ALL of it. Government produces NOTHING. Government climbs in bed with giant business... combines to fleece the suckers all the better... Now those suckers are protesting for all the no good at all it will do them. Miserable, stupid, willfully ignorant tools, each and every one.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • C"mon Man wrote...
    Espana
    July 19, 2012 8:06 pm
    Lived there for three years, they are faced with with programs that cost more than they take in, kind of like Wisconsin, where the state had to ask employee's to contribute more to pensions and care, as opposed to what has happened in San Jose,San Diego, and Stockton CA., as well as Scranton , PA where the elected officials chose cut-backs oevr bankruptcy.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    numbers of illegal immigrants without access to free health care.
    September 1, 2012 8:54 am
    "Free". A favorite word for leftists after "fair". Nothing is free. And to provide this "free" to illegals is preposterous & irresponsible to those paying the bill; LEGAL RESIDENTS. Yet, in Spain, and Owebama's U.S., this is the norm. Yet now in Spain (and other countries) we are seeing the results; bankrupt nations/gov'ts. WAKE UP AMERICA!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Saltchucker wrote...
    Spaniards may not like it, but......
    October 6, 2012 4:35 pm
    ....they are will end up as a third world country. They were two butt hairs away from being there when I visited in 1990!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    Spaniards?
    October 7, 2012 9:18 am
    Heck, we're on our way there now. 16 TRILLION and growing. Again...thanks Barry.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }