'March for Dignity' storms Madrid

THE latest 'March for Dignity' took over Madrid last night (Saturday) with several thousand protesters calling for 'bread, jobs, shelter and equality' and criticising lack of employment and of permanent, quality work, along with 'deterioration' in healthcare and education, plus the cost of corruption and the privatisation of public services.

Four separate marches, starting from the north, south, east and west of the city converged at the Neptune fountain to read a manifesto before holding a festival in the Plaza de España.

Each compass point represented a specific core value: 'freedom' from the south, 'equality' from the east, 'unity' from the west, and 'solidarity' from the north.

Demonstrators were not just from Madrid itself, but from 15 of Spain's regions, not including the Balearic and Canary Islands, with representatives from different ones in each march – Valencia, Catalunya, Murcia, Aragón and the eastern half of Castilla-La Mancha campaigned for 'equality', whilst Andalucía marched for 'freedom' and Extremadura and the west of Castilla-La Mancha for 'unity', with participants from the remaining regions joining the 'solidarity' queue.

Members of the public, unions, left-wing politicians, and various associations representing healthcare, education, pensions and 'historic memory', relating to victims of the Civil War and Franco's régime as well as legislation requiring all towns and cities to remove references to the dictatorship, such as street names and statues.

This is the third nationwide demonstration organised by the association March for Dignity (Marcha de la Dignidad) since it formed in 2014 – although numerous other protests have been staged on a more local level in Madrid.

According to one of the group's leaders, Ángeles Maestro: “For the vast majority of people, things have not only not improved at all, but are actually getting worse by the day, so we cannot stop mobilising society now.”