A spokesman for the Unified Association of Spanish Soldiers (AUME) has criticised the Defence ministry's decision to ban access to a number of websites including the Marca and As sports dailies, the racy tabloid magazine 'Interviú', and eBay.

"It seems that they want to treat military personnel like children by setting internet control filters," moaned Mariano Casado, who is the general secretary for the organisation that has around 2,000 members.

Earlier this week, the Defence ministry issued an internal memo justifying the ban on the grounds that there have been a number of recent instances when excess surfing has overloaded the ministry's IT system, making it impossible for anyone within the department to connect to the internet. The memo also pointed out that similar restrictions are commonplace in both state-run institutions and private companies.

Describing the measure as "inadmissible censorship," Mr Casado said that this was yet another example of the government continuing to treat its servicemen and women like "second-class citizens," and pointed out that this was not the first time something similar had occurred, alleging that, last year, the ministry had tried to prevent soldiers accessing the AUME website.