The social movement protesting against the political class in Spain has decided to continue its demonstrations and a protest camp has been set up in the ‘Puerta del Sol’ in the centre of the Spanish capital, Madrid. The organizers of the protest have suggested that protests continue 24 hours a day and that the protest camp should be maintained until at least next Sunday. In addition they are calling for a mass protest on either Friday or Saturday this week.
Following several hours of debate the organizers of the event said that they would continue their protests and discussed the idea of drawing up a list of demands to be presented to the government before concluding their protest at the end of this week. The assembly which consists of the spokesperson for seven groups made it clear that they did not represent any political party or association. They are demanding a new society where human dignity is more important than economic interests.
They also said that it was an absolute priority that the social movement for political change should remain peaceful. The organizers of the event have agreed to create a united front in the ‘Puerta del Sol’ while their demands, which will become public in a few hours, are being discussed.
Tomás Muñoz, one of the spokespersons for the protest camp said that both the protesters and the media should be patient while discussions of this ‘new collective’ were taking place.
According to the organizers of the protest in the ‘Puerta del Sol’ a similar protest in Granada has been broken up by the police. The number of police at the protest in Madrid has been considerably reduced and just around 20 policemen and women are guarding the headquarters of the regional government of Madrid.
Spain is not a democracy. Among other things, for example, there is not separation of powers (legislative, executive and judiaciary), which is a must in the definition of the term democracy. Also, political parties are paid by the State (as well as the labor unions) and present closed lists of candidates on election's days.
It is this lack of real democracy which creates frustration among Spanish people. We feel we have not political freedom. We can not control our politicians, who are professionals of politics. Politicians feel they are "inmune" to citizens criticism.
This situation has created a huge gap between the "political world" and the Spanish society.
Frustration has gone too far and finnally people have said ENOUGH!
We want to attain political freedom. We want real democracy. We are the best educated generation in Spain's history. And we have a lot of time and energy to think (as we are all -43% of us- unnemployed!). We have organized ourselves and will not quit this movement until we have conquered REAL DEMOCRACY.
This is the main reason why people is camping and discussing at Puerta del Sol, Madrid, and any other square -agoras- of the Spanish cities.