page_title: Anti-austerity movement in Spain
section_title: 17 May
hierarchical_section_title: Anti-austerity movement in Spain / 2011 events / May 2011 / 17 May
caption_attribution_description: English: Protest in Sol Square, Madrid. On the 17th at night.
context_page_description: The anti-austerity movement in Spain, also referred to as the 15-M Movement, and the Indignados Movement, was a series of protests, demonstrations, and occupations against austerity policies in Spain that began around the local and regional elections of 2011 and 2012. First starting on 15 May 2011, many of the subsequent demonstrations spread through various social networks such as Real Democracy NOW and Youth Without a Future.
  Spanish media related the movement to the 2008–14 Spanish financial crisis, the Arab Spring, as well as demonstrations in North Africa, Iran, Greece, Portugal, in Iceland. The movement was also compared to Stéphane Hessel's political manifesto Time for Outrage!, which was seen to empower Spanish youth not in school, training, or employment. Protestors rallied against high unemployment rates, welfare cuts, politicians, and the two-party system in Spain, as well as the political system, capitalism, banks, and public corruption. Many called for basic rights, of home, work, culture, health and education.
  According to RTVE, the Spanish public broadcasting company, between 6.5 and 8 million Spaniards participated in these events.
context_section_description: In the early hours of 17 May, police cleared the Puerta del Sol square and removed the 150 people who had camped out. Two protesters were arrested and one injured. In response to the eviction and police violence, protesters (independent of the ¡Democracia Real YA! organization) used SMS, Facebook and Twitter to call for a mass response at 8 p.m. in several Spanish squares. Large groups of demonstrators returned to protest in various cities, standing apart from the group in Madrid. The police allowed protesters to camp out in a few cities, like A Coruña, where more than 1,000 people gathered. In Madrid more than 12,000 people gathered and about 200 protesters organized into an assembly, during which they decided to organize themselves for spending the night in the square, creating cleaning, communication, extension, materials and legal committees. Previously, small businesses had provided a great deal of assistance with supplies, including food. Dozens of people also gathered in front of the courthouse in Madrid, where the people arrested during the 15 May demonstration were being held. All detainees were released.
  Protests and nighttime camp-outs took place in 30 cities around Spain, including Barcelona and Valencia. The protests gained the support of some people in the United Kingdom, who announced that they would sit outside of the Spanish embassy from 18 to 22 May. The protest in Plaza del Sol on the night of 17 May consisted of about 4,000 people, according to the authorities. As evening fell, the protesters put up a large tarp canopy beneath which they passed out signs with the intention of spending the night. Three hundred of them stayed until the dawn of 18 May.
caption: The night of 17 May in Puerta del Sol
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