Protestas

 The last couple of weeks I was in Spain, there were protests going on. The first protest I saw was when I was in Sevilla for the weekend. I was shocked by how many people were protesting and what the signs said. When I came home from Sevilla that weekend, a popular plaza in Granada was filled with people and signs. At first, I thought these protests were related to the elections because they were happening around the same time. However, after the elections ended the protests continued. For over two weeks up until the day I left, hundreds of people gathered at all times during the day in a popular plaza in Granada to voice their opinions. I would walk by at least once a day to see what was going on. There were tents to sleep in and areas designated to distribute food and water. The police were always very close but never intervened. I talked to Julio and Maria a little about the protests to try and get a better idea of what was going on. They told me young people were not happy because there were not a lot of jobs avaliable to them. They also mentioned how young people didn't have a lot of rights and they were fighting for more. When I asked when the protests might end, Maria and Julio didn't have a response. They predict it will end when young people get what they are asking for. I tried my best to translate what the signs said.

Protest in Sevilla

Sign in Sevilla
"Goods shouldn't be in the hands of politcians and bankers"

Tried to get as close to the signs as I could without getting lost in the crowd
"Stop the corruption"

Granada
What I saw when I got back from Sevilla

 

Hundreds of people gathering in the plaza

Some of the signs were really powerful

One of the signs on the ground
"Just sit and watch us"

My favorite sign

There were papers and signs all over the place

A reference to Article 21

 

"We are citizens"

More signs- you can see the police in the background just standing there
"Conscious Minds"
"Joining hands and hearts"

Pretty poweful

A list of their wants/demands

Sign
"Police it's your right to help us"

The plaza when it wasn't very crowded but you can still see the tents set up

Another view of the area when it wasn't very crowded

Besides the protests I saw in person, there were a lot on the news as well. The news showed massive crowds gathering in Madrid as well as violence in the streets in Barcelona. It will be interesting to find out when the protests end and what the end results will be.