Mass protests by miners take place in the Spanish capital

Protest demonstrations by Spanish miners, who have been rallying against cuts in government subsidies for coal production for almost two months, have reached their climax. In three weeks, the miners living in the north of the country marched more than 400 km and arrived in Madrid the night before. On Wednesday, a mass protest is taking place in the Spanish capital, in which a total of at least 25 thousand people are expected to take part.

Miners from the north of Spain (mainly from the province of Asturias) began protesting against the anti-crisis plans of the government of Mariano Rajoy at the end of May. They warned that Madrid's 63% ($200 million) cut in coal mining subsidies would lead to the loss of 30,000 jobs and a rise in the price of Spanish coal, and consequently the collapse of the entire industry. Defending their rights, miners blocked highways and railways, built barricades and clashed with the police. Law enforcement officers were forced to take retaliatory measures. As a result, for example, on June 15, seven people were injured in clashes, two of them seriously injured.

Realizing that they were unlikely to be able to influence the government from distant Asturias, on June 22, several hundred miners went to Madrid. The “Black March” (that’s how the Spanish media dubbed the miners’ march) took about three weeks. During this time, its participants walked about 400 km. They arrived in Madrid on Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday night, the first large-scale action of miners took place in the Spanish capital. Dressed mostly in black, with lit lanterns on their miners' helmets, the marchers, accompanied by thousands of sympathetic citizens, walked through the central streets of Madrid. The final destination of the route was Puerta del Sol - a favorite place of all Spanish dissenters since the birth of the "indignant" movement in the spring of 2011.

The miners have planned their biggest action yet for Wednesday. It started at 11:00 local time (13:00 Moscow time) and will last until the evening. The center of protest activity this time is the square near the building of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism. Previously, the capital's authorities banned miners from carrying out such an action, but the Supreme Court of Madrid saw this as a violation of citizens' right to freedom of assembly. A total of at least 25 thousand people are expected to attend protests on Wednesday.

However, it is unlikely that the Spanish “dissenters” will be able to influence the government’s decision to reduce government subsidies - Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his ministers would happily abandon the policy of “belt tightening”, but in this case the collapse of the Spanish economy would be inevitable.

Pavel Tarasenko

The Black March has reached Madrid