Tens of thousands protest against cuts in Spain

Madrid- Posted by: Pía Figueroa Posted date: 29 April 2012 In: Europe, Politics

Tens of thousands of people across all Spain protested in the streets against the new education and health care spending cuts proposed by the government, as the country faces its second recession in three years.
Mariano Rajoy, announced recently a new proposal of tax hikes to come into effect during next year saying that “Spain needs deep structural change, not makeup.”

Unemployment is at 24.4%, the highest within eurozone. More than half of Spaniards under 25 years old are jobless.

In its first five months in office, Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government has introduced stinging austerity measures.

Protesters this Sunday in different Spaniard cities carried banners urging Rajoy to not “mess around with health and education.” Many protesters believe that the government intents to use the financial crisis as an excuse to sell off essential public services to the private sector.

Rajoy said that the Socialist forces “the least they could do now is to shut up”, since they were not able to handle the economic situation and left the country with a very bad economy.