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Spanish protesters stage anti-austerity demo in Madrid

23 March 2014 02:03 (UTC +04:00)

In the early hours of Saturday morning, six columns of protesters — each representing a different region of Spain — arrived at the outskirts of Madrid before heading to Plaza de Colon in the center of the city.

Protesters chanting slogans against government's austerity measures and spending cuts filled Madrid's principal boulevard, Paseo del Prado, by late afternoon.

The mass rally, dubbed "the Marches for Dignity 22-M", included trade unions, civil servants and organizations representing people evicted from their homes for not being able to make mortgage payments after losing their jobs.

Official figures show Spain’s public debt has soared to a new record high last year despite numerous budget-cutting measures implemented due to financial crisis.

According to data released by the Spanish central bank on March 14, the government’s debt reached 93.9 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013.

The figure showed a sharp rise compared to the previous record of 86 percent registered a year earlier.

Spain has been struggling to deal with its worst economic crisis since World War II, which has left millions of Spaniards jobless and unable to make a living.

A fifth of the country’s population is living under the poverty threshold as defined by the European Union's Statistics Office (Eurostat). The dearth of jobs and the deepest austerity in more than 30 years have pushed average household income down 10 percent since 2008.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government has been sharply criticized over its austerity measures.

Spaniards have staged numerous protests against the government’s spending cuts, arguing that austerity measures have resulted in more job losses in recent years.

According to the Labor Ministry, more than 4.8 million Spaniards were unemployed in January.