2011 May Spanish protests, 15-M Movement

The 2011 May Spanish protests, also referred to as the 15-M Movement, Spanish revolution or Indignados (Spanish for "Outraged") are a series of demonstrations inSpain whose origin can be traced to social networks and the ¡Democracia Real Ya!(Real Democracy Now!) civilian digital platform, along with 200 other small associations.

Starting on 15 May 2011 with an initial call in 58 Spanish cities, the series of peaceful protests demands a radical change in Spanish politics, as protesters do not consider themselves to be represented by any party nor favoured by the measures approved by politicians. The protests have been staged close to the municipal elections, to be held on 22 May. The press has related them to the economic crisis,Stéphane Hessel's Time for Outrage!, the NEET troubled generation and currentprotests in the Middle East and North Africa, Greece, Portugal as well as the Icelandic protest and riots.

Even though protesters form a heterogeneous and ambiguous group, they share a strong rejection of Spanish politicians, the current two-party system in Spain between the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the People's Party (PP) and political corruption and firmly support basic rights: home, work, culture, health and education.

These protests have also appeared at a critical moment: According to the protesters, Spanish youths are more academically qualified than ever before, but face a 50% youth unemployment rate and 89% of Spaniards think political parties only care about themselves, according to Metroscopia. The protesters' plan had been to camp in the main squares of cities until 22 May, but on 22 May they extended it another week until 29 May.

15 May

The march in Madrid that day brought together, according to the National Police, about 20,000 protestors. It is estimated that the protestors that day were followed by about 130,000 people throughout Spain. The protests, against all expectation, spread greatly through the press. The Washington Post mentioned the news that same day.The first protest, on 15 May, was focused on opposition to what the protestors called "antisocial means in the hands of bankers", which referred to the changes Spain made in 2010 to contain the European financial crisis through bailout of the banks that society saw as responsible for the crisis, while at the same time announcing social program cutbacks. Protests took place in Madrid, Barcelona, Murcia, Granada, Malaga, Santiago de Compostela, Alicante and Valencia. Only in Madrid did the protests result in violent incidents which, according to the protestors were not connected to the protests. Protestors momentarily cut off traffic on Gran Via, the main street of Madrid, but were rapidly dispersed by a group of anti-riot police officers.

In Granada, up to 5,000 protestors showed up, according to the newspaper Ideal and the protest took place without incident, except for an exchange of insults between some protesters and members of the Fraternity of the Virgin of Rosario, whose procession overlapped with the end of the protest after the latter had gone on longer than expected.

16 May

In Puerta del Sol, protestors camped out during the night of 15 May; the campers were attacked during the early morning of 16 May. Altercations took place in a variety of neighborhoods in Madrid, far from the pacifistic spirit of the protest, whose core group of protestors deplored these actions. The violent protestors destroyed public spaces, cut off traffic on Gran Vía and confronted the police. 24 arrests took place along with 18 hearings and a few injuries, which in turn provoked a larger protest demanding their release. They were finally released on bail.

Various organisations, like Ecologists in Action, publicly condemned the escalation of the protests caused by the police.

17 May

Protests and nighttime camp-outs took place in 30 cities. The protests gained the support of people in the United Kingdom, who announced that they would sit outside of the Spanish embassy from the 18th until the 22 May. The protest in Plaza del Sol on the night of the 17th of May consisted of about 4,000 people according to the authorities. 300 of them stayed until the dawn of 18 May. Large groups of demonstrators returned to protest in various cities, standing apart from the group in Madrid in Puerta del Sol. This time the protests were not called together by ¡Democracia Real Ya!. In a few cities, the police permitted the protestors to camp out, as took place in A Coruña, where more than 1,000 people arrived on the 15th. In Madrid, about 200 protestors organized into an assembly, during which they decided to organize themselves for spending the night in Plaza del Sol, creating cleaning, communication, extension, materials and legal committees. Previously they had received a great deal of help from small businesses in the form of food. In the evening more than 12,000 people were gathered there.

18 May

In Madrid, the protestors put up a large carp canopy beneath which they passed out signs with the intention of spending the night there between the 17 and 18 May. According to a reporter from El País, many of them wore carnations, much as took place during the Portuguese Carnation Revolution. In addition, they organized a food stand which provided food donated by local businesses and set up a webcam to provide news from Plaza del Sol through the website Ustream.tv. The protestors were advised not to drink alcohol or to organize into groups of more than 20 people, as these acts could provoke a legal police crackdown.

The police ordered protestors to disperse in Valencia, Tenerife and Las Palmas. During the evacuation of the Plaza del Carmen in Granada there were 3 arrests. Speeches continued on throughout the afternoon. The protests grew to include León, Seville, where a camp out started as of 19 May, and in other provincial capitals and cities of Spain. Support groups were created on social networks for each camp out through the social network Twitter and other national and international networks. Google Docs and other servers began to receive download requests for documents needed to legally request permission for new protests.

In the morning, the Federación de Asociaciones de Vecinos de Barcelona (FAVB) announced their support of the protests in Barcelona. In Madrid, an activist created a flag that depicts a sun and a hand over a black background, which serves as an emblem for the protests, according to Belén Hernández at El País.

In addition to The Washington Post, which covered the protests on 15 May, news reports took place on the 18th in various media outlets, among them Le Monde, the most widely circulated newspaper in French, in an article which noted the rarity of such large scale protests in Spain. The German newspaper, Der Spiegel, noted the importance of the effects of what has been called "The Facebook Generation" and the youth on the protests. The Portuguese paper Jornal de Notícias, reported on the protests in Madrid on May 18 as soon as it was known that they had been prohibited. And The New York Times, which cited El País and noted the strong organization of the protestors, particularly the 200 people who had been placed in charge of security and the use of Twitter to ensure dissemination of their message.The Washington Post again reported on the protests in Puerta del Sol, giving them the name of a "revolution" and estimating the presence of 10,000 people on Wednesday afternoon's protest and comparing it with those in Cairo's Tahrir Square, which had recently ousted Egyptianpresident Hosni Mubarak. The BBC made reference to the peaceful nature of the protests in Puerta del Sol.

The various protests agreed to hold meetings between their organizing committees each day at 1pm and assemblies at 8pm.

In the evening, the President of the Regional Electoral Committee of Madrid issued a statement declaring the protests illegal because "calls for a responsible vote can change the results of the elections". Police units at Sol, however, received orders from the Government Delegation not to take out any further action.

20 May

United Left appealed the Electoral Board's decision to ban the protests before Spain's Supreme Court, to which the State Prosecution presented its arguments shortly after.According to Britain's The Guardian, "tens of thousands" had camped out in Madrid and throughout the country on the night of 19–20 May.

Appeal before the Supreme Court

Spain's public broadcaster, RTVE reported that the State Prosecutor upheld the decision taken by the Central Electoral Board to ban the rallies. Meanwhile, the police announced that they had been given instructions not to dissolve the crowd at Puerta del Sol on the condition that there was no disturbance of the peace.

Appeal before the Tribunal Constitucional

RTVE later reported that the country's Constitutional Court had been deliberating since 7.30pm whether to review an appeal against the decision of the Central Electoral Board. At 10.08 pm (local time), RTVE informed that the Constitutional had rejected the appeal on the formality that the appellant had not appealed first to the Supreme Court.

At 22:47 United Left announced it would appeal the Supreme Court's decision before the Tribunal Constitucional. They had until midnight.

At around 23:00, some 16,000 people (according to the police) and 19,000 (according to other sources) were gathered at and around Puerta del Sol.

21 May

In Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and other cities 21 May started with a minute of silence followed by cheers and applause. Smaller cities, such as Granada, decided to start before midnight to avoid disturbing the neighbors. These protests occurred even though protests on the day before elections are banned.

Around 28,000 people, according to the police, crowded Puerta del Sol and the neighboring streets despite the prohibition. Other cities also gathered large numbers of people: 15,000 in Malaga, 10,000 in Valencia, 6,000 in Zaragoza, 4,000 in Seville, 1,500 in Granada, 800 in Almeria, 600 in Cadiz, 200 in Huelva, around 100 in Jaen. 8,000 people gathered in Barcelona, 1,000 in Vigo, 3,000 in Bilbao, 2,000 in Oviedo, 2,000 in Gijón, around 800 in Avilés, 3,000 in Palma.

Other European cities had their own demonstrations, gathering 300 attendants in London, 600 in Brussels, 200 in Lisbon and some minor ones in Athens, Milan, Budapest, Tangiers, París, Berlín, Vienna and Rome.

22 May

Just after 2pm on election day, the ‘indignados’ gathered at Puerta del Sol announced they had voted to stay at least another week, until noon on 29 May. Early analysis of the nationwide elections, won by the People's Party, suggested the protest movement could have contributed to losses for the ruling PSOE and to increased numbers of spoilt or blank votes, which reached record levels.

24 May

In Murcia, some 80 people gained access to the headquarters of the television channel 7 Región de Murcia, avoiding security staff, in order to read a manifesto denouncing media manipulation. Likewise, some 30 people gained unobstructed entry to the Tarragona office of the Ministry of Economy and Financeand shouted slogans against the political and economic systems, before moving to several financial sites in the city centre to do the same.

25 May

In Málaga, the Ministry of Defence decided to relocate various activities for Armed Forces Dayplanned for Friday 27. Protesters had already been occupying the Plaza de la Constitución, where the events were scheduled to take place, for eight days.

27 May

At approximately 7am on 27 May a more serious incident occurred when the city council ofBarcelona decided to send 350 police officers from the Mossos d'Esquadra and another one hundred or so from the Guàrdia Urbana to temporarily vacate Plaça de Catalunya so that it could be cleaned ahead of the final of the Champions League final on 28 May, in which FC Barcelonawere playing. The resulting violent clash ended in 121 light injuries and provoked new calls to protest in all squares still occupied across Spain. The majority of those injured suffered bruises and open wounds caused by police officers' truncheons, and one protester leaving with a broken arm. By shortly after midday those protesters vacated had already returned to the square.

Similar incidents also occurred in Lleida and Sabadell, where Mossos d'Esquadra officers dismantled the protesters' encampments. According to police figures, more than 12,000 people gathered in Barcelona through the course of the day, angry about the earlier actions of the police, painting their hands white and carrying flowers as symbols of protest. They demanded, among other things, the resignation of the head of the Mossos d'Esquadra, Felip Puig. They also claimed that following the incident the encampment would likely not be taken down on Sunday 28, as had previously been stated.

The clearing of the Barcelona camp was broadcast live by two Spanish television channels, including Antena 3, and was also widely dispersed through social networks such asTwitter.

The Catalan ombudsman opened an investigation into the incident to check if police action was disproportionate and if it violated citizens' rights.