Demonstraties in Europa: Aanzwellend protest in Spaanse steden

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Italy's 'pitchfork protests,' in fourth day, spread to Rome

"There are millions of us and we are growing by the hour. This government has to go," said Danilo Calvani, a farmer who has emerged as one of the leader of the protests.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told parliament the unrest could "lead to a spiral of rebellion against national and European institutions."

The protests are fuelled by falling incomes, unemployment above 12 percent and at a record 41 percent among people below 25, and graft and scandals among politicians widely seen as serving their own rather than the country's interests.

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Spanish abortion bill expected to spark massive protest

Activists plan to march in Madrid against plans to severely restrict access to abortion

Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather in downtown Madrid on Saturday to protest against the Spanish government's plan to severely restrict women's access to abortion.

More than 300 groups plan to march to the Spanish parliament to present a letter demanding that the government abandon its push to enact some of the toughest abortion legislation in Europe. In late December, the governing People's party (PP) approved a bill that would see the country's relatively liberal abortion laws scaled back. Under the new law, Spanish women would only be able to terminate pregnancies in the case of rape or when there was a serious mental or physical health risk to the mother. The legislation is expected to pass in late spring.

Recent polls show between 70% and 80% of Spaniards oppose the changes. Protests have been taking place almost every other day across the country, ranging from the women who delivered 220 letters to the French embassy requesting "health asylum" to the Andalucian youth who held signs on street corners asking people to spare change so they could "travel to London for an abortion" or "pay for a clandestine abortion".

Saturday's protest will be a show of force by a movement that has been steadily growing since the government announced their plans, said Puy Zatón, one of the protest organisers. "This will be one of the most important protests Spain has seen in the last 50 years."

Solidarity protests are also being planned in Britain, France, Brussels, Italy and Ecuador.

The abortion debate has spilled over the Spanish border, said Zatón, because what is happening in Spain has been a wake-up call about the "fragility" of women's rights. "European women know that what is happening to us now in Spain could happen to them. All of a sudden these rights can disappear."

Some of the most vocal opponents of the law have been members of the governing PP. As the party kicks off their national conference on Friday in Valladolid, the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, will address his fractured party, whose quarrels over the proposed law have provided endless fodder for Spanish media. The infighting began when José Antonio Monago, a senior PP leader and the president of the region of Extremadura, asked the government in a statement to abandon its crusade against abortion. He wrote: "Nobody can deny a woman the right to be a mother, and neither can anybody force a woman to become one."

Politicians across Europe have echoed his concerns. In France the minister for women's affairs, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, openly criticised the proposal to French media. "It's terrible to see a country like Spain, which in recent years has become a leader in the fight to end violence against women … take a step backwards in the rights of women to decide over their own bodies."

A heated discussion earlier this month in the European parliament debated what the Spanish decision could mean for the rest of the continent, with the Austrian politician Hannes Swoboda saying he was "frankly surprised" that the Spanish prime minister did not have "other problems to solve".

Rajoy has repeatedly maintained that the changes merely address an election promise that must be fulfilled. In a memorandum recently obtained by Spanish media, Spain's justice ministry offered another justification for pushing forward with the changes. Restricting abortions could have a "positive net impact" on the Spanish economy, it wrote, by increasing the country's birth rate, currently one of the lowest in the European Union.

In the face of a tremendous backlash, Rajoy recently conceded that the reform had become "a very sensitive issue" and added he would be open to slightly modifying the bill. "We are willing to discuss and listen to you and others," he told one opposition member after she called the proposed measures backward.

As she and other protest organisers gear up to welcome thousands to Madrid, Zatón rejected any talk of modifications of the bill. Saturday's mass mobilisation has just one goal, she said firmly. "We want this project to disappear."

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Thousands march against Spanish government's plan to restrict abortion

Women's groups say new law limiting abortion to cases of rape or serious health risk would set back women's rights

Tens of thousands of people have marched to Spain's parliament to protest against the government's new law that aims to restrict abortion, allowing the practice only in cases of rape or serious risk to health.

Saturday's rally in Madrid was organised by dozens of women's groups and bodies that fight for reproductive rights.

Protesters carried banners saying "Allow mothers to decide" and "Mothers and fathers in freedom".

The previous Socialist government made abortion before the 14th week widely legal. But the ruling Popular party has long sided with the Roman Catholic Church on moral and social issues and made changing the law one of its main promises in the 2011 vote that brought it to power.

In December, justice minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón said that abortion will only be allowed in the case of rape or when there is a serious mental or physical health risk to the mother. Accredited fetal deformities that would endanger a child's life if born will also be accepted.

He also said 16- and 17-year-olds will once again have to obtain permission from their parents to have an abortion.

The bill, which must be approved by parliament, been fiercely resisted by opposition parties as well as women's groups across Spain who said that it set back women's rights to the dark days of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

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Spain restricting people's right to protest, Amnesty report finds

Report paints picture of heavy-handed government response to country's growing social movements

The Spanish government is using fines, harassment and excessive police force to limit the right to protest, Amnesty International warned in a new report released on Thursday.

Against a backdrop of chronic unemployment and shrinking public funds for education, health and social services, a growing number of Spaniards have taken to the streets in recent years. But "instead of listening to their demands, instead of starting a dialogue, authorities are doing everything they can to impede people from protesting", said the report's author, Virginia Álvarez.

Amnesty International tracked several protests in Madrid and Barcelona during the past year, gathering first-person accounts, interviewing journalists and lawyers and analysing videos and photographs.

The resulting report paints a stark picture of a heavy-handed government response to the country's growing social movements.

"With threats of fines or threats of being beaten, the government is trying to stigmatise and criminalise people who are just practising their rights."

In March, a violent clash between riot police and demonstrators in Madrid earned headlines around the world and left more than 100 people injured, including 67 police officers.

Pointing to a rise in street violence carried out by radical groups, Spain's director general of national police told parliament on Wednesday that the head of the anti-riot squad had been dismissed and police services were being restructured to deal better with what he called "an escalation of violence never seen before".

Amnesty International found that although the vast majority of protesters were peaceful, police treated them in the same manner as those who incited violence. In many cases, said the report, police had used excessive force to confront protesters.

"The impunity of police in Spain is something we've been covering for many years," said Álvarez. "But now we're seeing it in the distinct context of social protest."

The report documents several cases of excessive police force, such as that of Ester Quintana, an unemployed 43-year-old from Barcelona who lost her left eye in 2012 after being struck by a rubber bullet as she was leaving a protest.

Despite the many witnesses and video recordings that showed riot police firing rubber bullets, the interior minister of the Catalan regional government initially denied they had done so during the protest.

Instead, the minister insinuated Quintana's injury may have been caused by an object thrown by other demonstrators. "These were normal people, who were unjustly fined, unjustly beaten and afterwards were victimised all over again as they tried to find justice and found only inadequate investigations into their cases," said Álvarez.

Many of those interviewed by Amnesty International had been detained by police during protests. They spoke of treatment that varied by gender, with men often subject to a higher degree of violence and women pelted with sexist insults. One 21-year-old shared her frustration at being called Snow White and taunted over whether she wanted sex or water while being taken into custody.

These actions are having a dissuasive effect on protesters, said the organisation. As one 49-year-old activist explained: "They say that the movements are losing force, but the reality is that people are scared."

Citing public disobedience, fines ranging from ¤300 to ¤1,500 (£250 to £1,245) have become commonplace for protesters, said Jezerca Tigani, deputy director for Europe at Amnesty International.

"Many of the people who are attending these protests face financial constraints. They are totally and completely unable to pay the fine," she added.

The members of the Mortgage Victims' Platform (PAH), in their fight to halt the number of home repossessions in Spain, have racked up more than ¤40,000 in fines.

Spanish authorities have been allowed to develop these practices, said Tigani, because the country's legislation is out of step with European and international human rights standards. "On top of that, the Spanish authorities have been really stretching beyond what the existing legislation allows for," she added.

Rather than aim to bring the situation in line with international standards, the Spanish government is looking to further entrench this manner of dealing with protesters, she said, citing the strict anti-protest laws currently being drafted by the government. "Now they are talking about fines of up to ¤600,000 for protesting. That tells you how extortionist this is."

In the coming days, Amnesty International will present its report to various government bodies in Spain, including the ministries of justice and the interior.

"The authorities do know what is going on. Other international bodies are raising very similar concerns," said Tigani. "Whatever the authorities are doing has no place in a society that calls itself democratic."

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Mariano Rajoy disappointed by indignados' election success in Spain

PM struggles to address criticisms of his leadership of the People’s party as leftist parties win in Barcelona and perform well in Madrid

Spain’s conservative prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has expressed his disappointment after the country’s indignados performed strongly in elections in two big cities. “Evidently the results weren’t those that we would have liked to have,” said Rajoy in his first remarks since Sunday’s elections.

While his People’s party received the most votes overall, the party suffered its worst electoral result in more than two decades. “The victory of the PP is unquestionable,” added Rajoy, “but it is also evident that we didn’t reach the majorities that the citizens trusted us with four years ago.” The party lost about 2.5 million votes compared with the previous local elections in 2011.

A string of corruption scandals have hurt the party, he said. “Governing in a crisis as tough as what we have lived through wasn’t easy or gratifying. But the PP did it,” he said.

With general elections due at the end of the year, he sought to address head-on the criticisms of his leadership that have surfaced with the poor election showing. “I’ve spent many years in this party and I’m very comfortable and calm. I don’t plan on making any changes to the government or to the party,” he said. Instead, he said, the party would change its approach to voters. “We need to be closer to Spaniards and communicate more with them.”

While he appealed for the most voted party in each region to govern – “It’s what the majority of Spaniards wants,” he argued – he said the PP would be open to coalitions. “Our philosophy will be to offer alliances that are transparent and stable.” On Monday, analysts said that coalitions between leftist parties could see the PP ousted from power in as many as half a dozen regions.

Rajoy’s remarks came as the indignados continue to celebrate their victory in Barcelona and a strong showing in Madrid. One of the day’s most tweeted photos showed Barcelona’s mayor-elect, Ada Colau, being hauled away by police as she and other housing activists occupied a bank in 2013 to demand that the bank negotiate with a man who was unable to make his mortgage payments. “The mayor of Barcelona. Congratulations,” read the accompanying tweet.

Earlier on Monday, Colau announced that she would begin reaching out to political parties and associations in Barcelona, such as the pro-independence Catalan National Assembly and labour unions. “I want to be the mayor to all 73 neighbourhoods of this city,” she said. “The fight against precariousness, the fight against corruption, these are things that cannot wait.”