(23 Feb 2013)
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Wide of people protesting outside the Spanish parliament
2. Wide of protesters holding signs and republican flags
3. Mid of people clinging to window gratings
4. Mid of police vans
5. Wide pan of protest AUDIO: people chanting
6. Wide of child on top of a man's shoulders with a placard
7. Close up of banner: "NO"
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Arancha Mendez, protester:
"They can not go on with the changes they are establishing. They try to convince us it is good for the people but it is the opposite. They are burying us more and more every day and this way we are not going to ever move forward. No way".
9. Wide pan of protest outside parliament
10. Wide of protesters running away from police vans
11. Wide of riot policeman running after protesters
12. Wide of police vans, protesters running
13. Wide of riot police and protesters running
14. Wide of barriers thrown in the middle of the road
15. Close up of barrier on road
16. Wide of riot police moving chairs and tables that were thrown on road
17. Wide of protesters chanting against the police
18. Wide of protesters throwing chairs and tables onto road again
19. Mid of protester hurling chair on road
STORYLINE:
Tens of thousands of people marched on Spain's parliament on Saturday to protest austerity measures, a demonstration that came on the 32nd anniversary of a failed attempt by the armed forces to overthrow the government.
Protest groups joined forces under the slogan "Citizens' Tide, 23F," referring to the February 23, 1981, attack by the armed forces on the parliament.
Organisers said that Spain "is under a financial coup" and called on people to march against what they said was government favouritism toward financial institutions at the expense of ordinary citizens.
After a large and peaceful demonstration outside the parliament, acts of isolated vandalism took place on the sidelines of the protest.
As approximately 200 people moved away from the demonstration some were seen throwing chairs and barriers into the roads to disrupt traffic.
Heavily armoured police officers chased demonstrators away towards Madrid's Atocha railway station.
The acts of vandalism followed the biggest anti-government protest of 2013.
Marchers earlier in the day decried "the pressure of financial markets" and corruption in government and the country's banking system, and called on lawmakers to find alternatives that won't "give away" the welfare state.
"They can not go on with the changes they are establishing. They try to convince us it is good for the people but it is right the opposite," said protester Arancha Mendez.
Many Spaniards have been enraged by austerity cutbacks and tax hikes introduced by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in a bid to reduce the deficit, ease market pressures on government borrowing and try and avoid a full financial bailout.
Spain is in its second recession in three years and has 26 percent unemployment.
Similar protests were planned in 80 Spanish cities. News agency Europa Press reported that thousands of demonstrators had gathered as far afield as in the city of Las Palmas on the Atlantic island of Gran Canaria.
Rajoy was elected in a landslide late 2011 after saying during his election campaign that he had no plans to raise taxes or cut pensions.
Around two thousand riot police guarded the columns of protesters that marched toward parliament from four points in Madrid.
Protest organisers had asked people to dress in white, green, red, yellow, black, blue or purple to represent their interests, such as health services, ecology or fire services, among others.
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