3,000 protesters take to streets in central Madrid calling for solution to soaring inflation
The center of Madrid on Saturday was filled with noise, whistles, chants and union flags as some 3,000 people took to the street calling for increased wages and pensions amid the soaring inflation.
The cost of living protests in Spain mirrored those happening across France, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic as soaring costs cause people's purchasing power to shrink.
Food, fuel, rent and home heating prices have all spiraled upwards and many people are braced for the worse to come as the cold months close in.
"Salaries seem to be stagnant, and it is urgent to make a change. Absolutely people have lost some 10 percent of their purchasing power. The lower the salaries go, the more difficulties people will obviously have with paying the rent and for another primary issues," said Antonio Perez, secretary general of trade union FETICO (Federation of Independent Workers of Commerce).
The Spanish government has introduced two extraordinary inflation-busting packages over the past few months that have subsidized petrol, public transport, and imposed windfall taxes on the excess profits of energy companies and banks.
And new measures worth 3 billion US dollars are also in the pipeline. Protesters, however, say it simply isn't enough. Today saw just one in a series of demonstrations building up to a much bigger one at the start of November.
(Source: Reuters)
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