Los Indignados march on Madrid

 

The M15 protest group have begun a march from Barcelona to Madrid - some 650 Kilometres away.

The protestors will meet up the capital with two other groups who set of on similar marches from Valencia and Cádiz earlier this week to draw attention to their key concerns of unemployment, welfare cuts and corruption.

A group of around 50 in number left Barcelona early this morning to applause from members of the public, and expect the number to grow en route to Madrid.

The marchers will pass through 29 Towns on their way to the capital, where they intend to hold a meeting in each location to increase awareness and drum up support.

Last weekend around 200,000 of 'los indignados' packed the streets of Madrid, Barcelona and other major cities to protest against the political system, corruption and rising unemployment. On Wednesday some 200 rallied near the Spanish parliament after camping out overnight to protest plans to overhaul workers' collective bargaining rights.

The M15 movement has inspired a number of similar demonstrations in other European countries, where governments have also attracted criticism from the general public, due largely to the various austerity cuts that have been put in place to fight the worsening Economy in the Eurozone.