National Library of Spain discovers rare fragment of Vicenzo Bellini score

The Spanish News in English: National Library of Spain discovers rare fragment ...: Spain's National Library (BNE) announced on Wednesday the discovery of a rare fragment of an opera score, handwritten by 19th century...

'23F Citizen's Wave': Major anti-austerity protests in Spain

Tens of thousands of people from all walks of life hit the streets of Spain on Saturday in a "Citizen's Wave" anti-austerity demonstration.

As part of the ongoing and neverending protests all over Spain against austerity measures and budget cuts in the country, the latest event saw tens of thousands of people in the streets of Spain, carrying banners, banging drums, blowing whistles and hooters and generally making their anger known.

One woman carried a flag depicting Argentinian-born Cuban revolution hero Che Guevara. Others carried posters just saying a simple message, "No" or "No dictatorship." A firefighter carried a placard reading, "If there is no justice for the people, there will be no peace for the government."

The people of Spain have had enough of the hardship brought on by the financial crisis in the country, along with what they call the corruption of the government, referring to the recent scandal involving Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and slush fund payments.

While thousands marched countrywide, possibly the biggest demonstration was in the capital, Madrid, as thousands marched on the Spanish parliament, targeting the "coup of the financial markets."

Many have been badly affected by public sector cuts and tax hikes introduced by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government, launched to tackle the country's debt problem. According to Rajoy, these measures have been imposed to cut a "path for the future", but the Spanish public disagrees.

The people say that the "pressure of the financial markets" along with government corruption have led to the current situation and that because of this, the people are being punished, not those actually responsible for the crisis. Unemployment continues to soar at 26%, with 50% and more among the youth. 

The protest has been dubbed "Citizens' Wave 23F" and includes workers from virtually every field including professors, teachers and students, doctors and nurses, miners, political activists, firefighters and environmentalists.

The current protest marks the 32nd anniversary of a failed attempt by right-wing officers to overthrow Spain's new democracy and restore military rule. 

 

Millions in Spain are now at risk of poverty, with ROAR Magazine saying that Oxfam projects that some 18 million Spaniards (almost 40 percent of the population) could face a life of destitution by 2022.  

On Friday, Spain badly missed the 6.3 percent of GDP target for 2012 with a result of 10.2 percent, so things can only get worse for the people.

Luis Mora, a construction worker in Madrid told AFP, "We have come because of it all - unemployment, corrupt politicians, the young people who have no future - it's a combination of everything." 

 

RT and photographer Erwin Sarkisov have some impressive photos of the event.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/344189

Thousands of police protest in Madrid, Spain against the cuts

Between 5,000-8,000 police officers from all over Spain marched through Madrid on Saturday, protesting austerity measures and cuts. They even apologized to the public for arresting the wrong people. 

Protesting against the government's austerity measures, which includes frozen pensions and the elimination of Christmas bonuses, the demonstration was called by the nation's main policing union.

 

Numbers are estimated at between 5,000 and 8,000 officers (depending on the media) from all branches of the Spanish police.The Spanish government has imposed harsh spending cuts, which are aimed at saving around 150 billion euros between 2012 and 2014. 

 

The cuts have been met with anger and protests by thousands of Spanish citizens, and now the police are joining them in their anger. 

 

Blowing whistles and chanting slogans, they marched through the city center to the Ministry of the Interior. One of the banners they carried read: "Citizens! Forgive us for not arresting those truly responsible for this crisis: bankers and politicians."

Citizens! Forgive us for not arresting those truly responsible for this crisis: bankers and politicians.

33-year-old police officer Antonio Perez told AP, "The problem is they take from us to give to others, like the autonomous regions and the banks."

 

But it's not just about money. Jose Maria Benito, a spokesman for Spain's Unified Police Union, said that the cuts will affect the security of the country. He said that working conditions have become more precarious and equipment used was no longer up to standard.

 

Benito told AP, “We are here to tell the government that security has to be its priority…in socially convulsive times, we need an adequate police response,” adding that 15,000 workers who have left the force were not going to be replaced.

 

On that point, in a speech, the Union's general secretary, Jose Maria Sanchez Fornet said that "Each year, between 1,500 and 2,000 police officers retire and 125 are recruited, which means in three or four years, there will be more insecurity and crime in Spain."

 

General Secretary of the Trade Union SIPE, Alfredo Perdiguero, said that never before in the history of Spain had the police suffered "so many cuts and setbacks".

 

"The police have a difficult job and the government mistreats us with lack of legal support, low wages and contempt," he said.

 

President of the European Organization Eurocop, Ana Nellberg, shares the demands of the Spanish officers and has assured them that police officers from all over Europe are suffering the same situation. "A disillusioned cop who is not properly funded and paid cannot offer to the people or the government the protection they need and are entitled to. The alternative is chaos." Nellberg warned.

 

The protest by the police officers comes in the wake of the general strike against austerity in Spain and other countries in Europe.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/337116#ixzz2CWdBu53C

Between 5,000-8,000 police officers from all over Spain marched through Madrid on Saturday, protesting austerity measures and cuts. They even apologized to the public for arresting the wrong people.

Protesting against the government's austerity measures, which includes frozen pensions and the elimination of Christmas bonuses, the demonstration was called by the nation's main policing union. Numbers are estimated at between 5,000 and 8,000 officers (depending on the media) from all branches of the Spanish police. The Spanish government has imposed harsh spending cuts, which are aimed at saving around 150 billion euros between 2012 and 2014. The cuts have been met with anger and protests by thousands of Spanish citizens, and now the police are joining them in their anger. Blowing whistles and chanting slogans, they marched through the city center to the Ministry of the Interior. One of the banners they carried read: "Citizens! Forgive us for not arresting those truly responsible for this crisis: bankers and politicians."

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Citizens! Forgive us for not arresting those truly responsible for this crisis: bankers and politicians.

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33-year-old police officer Antonio Perez told AP, "The problem is they take from us to give to others, like the autonomous regions and the banks." But it's not just about money. Jose Maria Benito, a spokesman for Spain's Unified Police Union, said that the cuts will affect the security of the country. He said that working conditions have become more precarious and equipment used was no longer up to standard. Benito told AP, “We are here to tell the government that security has to be its priority…in socially convulsive times, we need an adequate police response,” adding that 15,000 workers who have left the force were not going to be replaced. On that point, in a speech, the Union's general secretary, Jose Maria Sanchez Fornet said that "Each year, between 1,500 and 2,000 police officers retire and 125 are recruited, which means in three or four years, there will be more insecurity and crime in Spain." General Secretary of the Trade Union SIPE, Alfredo Perdiguero, said that never before in the history of Spain had the police suffered "so many cuts and setbacks". "The police have a difficult job and the government mistreats us with lack of legal support, low wages and contempt," he said. President of the European Organization Eurocop, Ana Nellberg, shares the demands of the Spanish officers and has assured them that police officers from all over Europe are suffering the same situation. "A disillusioned cop who is not properly funded and paid cannot offer to the people or the government the protection they need and are entitled to. The alternative is chaos." Nellberg warned. The protest by the police officers comes in the wake of the general strike against austerity in Spain and other countries in Europe.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/337116#ixzz2CWd4levf

Staff & students stage Madrid university Zombie flash mob

Emulating a similar event by Chilean students, a group of administrative workers, teachers and students from Complutense University got together in a zombie flash mob dance in the defense of public university.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/336046

3 girls dead and 2 seriously injured in Madrid Halloween stampede

The Thriller-themed party was held in the Madrid Arena of the Casa de Campo. It is thought that a flare that someone released into the crowd caused the panic and the stampede.

Sources at the Chief of Police in Madrid said that the flare was probably the trigger for the stampede and they are investigating, although at present no arrests have been made.  

Emergency services received a warning about the 4.05 am that several young women, aged between 18 and 25, had been injured in the crush. Two of the girls died in the emergency medical infirmary in the premises, after more than 30 minutes of resuscitation attempts, a third died upon reaching the Clinico Hospital, where she had been taken, and another two are in a critical condition in the 12 October Hospital and the Jiménez Díaz Foundation. 

@Patry_ZB

Tickets for the Halloween event.

An assistant at the party, who gave her name as Sandra, told Spain's Cadena Ser radio station that "There was a human crush at the only exit they had because the others were sealed off." 

 

 The building can hold 10,000 people and was packed for the Halloween celebration. 

 

According to the website of Madrid Espacios y Congresos, the event was planned by the Diviertt company and offered, for 25 euros, a "Thriller Music Park" in a "fun and gloomy atmosphere achieved thanks to the visual and sound effects" with some well-known DJs. 

 

The organization suggested costumes inspired by the video of Michael Jackson's Thriller, and announced as the star of the party Steve Auki, an electronic music artist, along with Julien Leik, Autoerotique, Army of the Universe and Ed is Dead.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/335941#ixzz2Ay5zzvOn

Transhumance — 2,000 sheep stop traffic in Madrid, Spain

The streets of Madrid saw an entirely different protest on Sunday, as thousands of sheep and other farm animals blocked traffic in the annual "trashumancia", or transhumance event. 

While over the weekend, tens of thousands of people were out on the streets of Madrid, protesting against austerity measures and demanding the resignation of the Spanish government, and even the police were having a demonstration of their own, another more traditional protest happened on Sunday. 

The annual transhumance event was held, where more than 2,000 sheep and other farm stock were led through the center of the city to defend ancient grazing, droving and migration rights. This colorful event has been running every year since 1994 and is basically to defend the right to use ancient droving routes, which used to crisscross the fields and woodland, where the sprawling city of Madrid now stands. 

These routes have been in existence since around 1273, and the shepherds, following an age-old tradition, have to pay 25 maravedis (a type of coin first minted in the 11th century) to the city hall to use the crossing. Once this is paid, they can then take their flock through the city streets with no hindrance. As a tradition, shepherds in Spain have the right to use 78,000 miles (125,000 kilometers) of paths throughout the countryside for seasonal livestock migrations, from the cool mountain pastures in summer, down to the warmer lowland grazing in the winter. 

This migration is called transhumance, or trashumancia in Spanish, and the Ministry of Agriculture has been promoting the annual fiesta since 1994.

El Nuevo Herald interviewed Jorge Jiménez, aged 25, who was walking with a donkey. ''We have been walking, we arrived yesterday afternoon from Hoyos del Espino", which is more than 150 km to the West of Madrid. "This is something beautiful, because it is a tradition of the Spanish people and serves to remind that we were migrating." 

Jiménez is computer science student originally from a livestock family. 

Manuela Pozuelo, 45, was watching the parade with her 18-year-old son and daughter of 11. "I think it is a very good idea, because it is something which you are not used to here in Madrid, especially people who do not have a habit of leaving the city to go to the villages," Pozuelo said. 

Spaniards are proud of their ancient sheep-rearing traditions. The native Marino breed is highly thought of and has been exported to South America and Australia, where they are renowned in the local wool industries.

Watch a video of the transhumance event when it was held in Madrid on October 30, 2011 by following the link below..

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/335714#ixzz2AgDIcBdp

Tens of thousands march in the streets of Madrid, Spain

Angered by the latest austerity measures and budget cuts, and calling for the Spanish government to resign, thousands thronged the streets of Madrid on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched on Spain's parliament in Madrid on Saturday evening, accompanied by a massive police escort, and closely guarded by officers with dog teams and in full riot gear and many police vans. The march, which was 2.3 kilometers long, was organized by the "Surround Parliament" protest group, as part of the ongoing anti-austerity protests in the country. On arrival at the parliament building, the protesters were met by an even bigger police presence, which pushed them back, using a chain of metal barricades.

As tens of thousands of jobs were lost in the third quarter of 2012, with a bank bailout a strong possibility, demonstrators have had enough. 

 

70-year-old Alan Pipo told the AP, “And now they are going to give banks a bailout, rescue them as if they were princesses." 

 

"They should be put out on the streets, just like all those families who are being evicted from their homes because they are unable to keep up with mortgage payments!" he added. 

 

Paloma Martinez, 62, said, We can't go on like this. We have a right to a public health system and quality schools for our kids. We are indignant and have no fear." 

 

At one stage, the protesters held a minute's silence, with their backs turned on parliament, showing their condemnation of the Spanish's government's policies which have caused a quarter of the Spanish people to become unemployed. They then shouted "resign" with their fists clenched. 

 

Part of the crowd also protested in front of Bankia bank, where a group has been camping out since Monday of this week, demanding a halt to the evictions that have so far affected 400,000 families in Spain

As reported on Digital Journal, earlier in the day, almost 3,000 off-duty police officers also took to the streets to protest austerity measures and the fact that their Christmas bonuses are to be take away and carrying banners stating "Police officers can no longer take it." 

 

With 25% of the country unemployed, with a staggering 52.34% of the young unable to find work, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has hiked taxes, introduced harsh labor reforms and cut spending, as he tries to persuade investors that his government can manage the crisis without a full bailout. 

 

Spain's troubled banks have been granted a 100 billion euro ($130 billion) loan facility by the 17 eurozone countries. 

 

However, some researchers say that instead of cutting spending, it might be wiser to increase it. 

 

Jerome Roos, a searcher on the EU debt crisis at the European University Institute in Florence, and founder of ROAR Mag, told RT, “The alternative is actually not to cut spending, but to invest in the economy, to invest in growth to make sure that there are jobs. And the only way to ultimately get out of this debt, is to grow out of debt and not to cut your way of debt.”

 

“Clearly things can’t continue the way they are now. Spain would do very well to heed the lessons that were learned in the past decade from three other countries - Argentina, Ecuador and Iceland - each of which defaulted on part of its external debt.”

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/335665#ixzz2AaQRGtiO

Now it's the cops' turn to protest in Madrid, Spain

Madrid - 3,000 off-duty national police officers rallied outside the Ministry of the Interior in Madrid on Saturday, protesting austerity measures and budget cuts, including the loss of their Christmas bonuses. 

 

The officers, wearing blue caps, some wrapped in Spanish flags, blocked the central Paseo de la Castellana Boulevard in Madrid, while their on-duty colleagues looked on. 

 

The protesters charged and threw fireworks into the air. One banner said "Police officers can no longer take it." One protester apparently required medical treatment, when a firework he intended to throw, went off in his hand.  

 

The demonstrators are members of the Confederación Española de Policía (CEP), the Unión Federal de Policía (UFP) and the Sindicato Profesional de Policía (SPP). 

 

As with all Spanish civil service workers, police are being hit by the country's attempt to get the debt crisis under control. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy revealed a 2013 austerity budget earlier this month, as the country continues into its second recession in three years. As part of the latest cuts, starting January 1, police will lose three of the six days of supplementary holidays that they are allowed every year, in addition to their regular vacation, wage cuts when on sick leave, along with the loss of their Christmas bonus. 

 

Fran Estacio, a 33-year-old officer from Valencia, told AFP, "We came to express our anger at the way the government treats us, not only because they have removed Christmas bonuses, but also because they are eliminating our rights." 

 

Unemployment in Spain hit a record twenty-five per cent this week, which is the highest since the Franco dictatorship ended almost 40 years ago.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/335638#ixzz2AX5NDbXX

Spanish students take to the streets in protests throughout Spain

Amidst ongoing protests throughout Spain, thousands of students took to the streets in Madrid on Wednesday, angry at proposed education cuts which they say leaves them with "no future." 

While thousands marched in Madrid as part of a three day action, according to local police, a further 3,000 rallied in the streets of Barcelona and thousands more protested in Valencia and other major Spanish cities.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/335033