简体中文
Thursday night's protests outside of the Spanish Congress ended with 15 arrests and 29 people suffering light injuries after ending with some scenes of violence.
Around 1,500 people took part in the demonstration, which was organized by the platform 'El Pie,' but the threat of violence meant that many other groups refused to attend the protest and there were far fewer demonstrators than on previous occasions, such as September 25 last year.
Meanwhile the authorities had prepared for the demonstration and 1,400 riot police were present, while the entrance to the Congress was blocked by a metal security fence.
The day had begun with the news of four arrests of people who were detained with petrol, flares, masks and latex gloves and it is alleged they planned to set fire to a bank in the run up to the protest, which was scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. (1600GMT) local time.
Thursday morning also saw a cyber-attack on the Congress website, while 14 arrests were made after incidents at a protest at the campus of the Madrid University.
The demonstration outside of the Congress began to swell in number around 6 p.m., although at times it appeared there were more journalists waiting to report on any incidents than actual protestors.
The demonstration on September 25 last year saw the violent incidents continue into the early hours of the morning, but given the lack of public response to the protest, En Pie published a tweet affirming there was "no sense" in continuing the action given lack of support.
What was clear, however, is that those protesting had a clearly different demographic structure to past protests, being much younger in average age and with many of them belonging to 'anti-system' groups, rather than the broad cross-section of society seen in past demonstrations.
There were songs and chants against the police, the government and politicians in general, but there was no violence until a small group of protestors, made a determined attempt to break down the security barrier, during which bottles and some fireworks were thrown at the police inside of the cordon.
This was the sign for the police to launch a baton charge with the aim of clearing the demonstrators from the Plaza Neptuno, which is in front of the Congress and it is during this action that the majority of the arrests took place. One of those arrested was reported to be carrying a catapult and 50 metal balls.
The President of the Congress, Jesus Posada said he was satisfied with the day's outcome and defended the decision to use such a high number of police, insisting that the use of sufficient force was a good way to prevent incidents from occurring.
