Thousands of anti-austerity protesters march in Madrid, Frankfurt, Lisbon

Arab Spring will cascade into Euro Spring.  Occupy Wall Street reincarnated...

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/thousands-of-anti-austerity-protesters-march-in-madrid-frankfurt-lisbon-1.1306955

Many protesters were carrying banners saying, "No more cuts" and "Screw the Troika," a reference to the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the three-member group that bailed out the governments of Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus.

The bailout loans were given on the understanding that governments enact stringent austerity measures to rein in their heavily indebted finances.

Spain has since seen almost daily protests by people angry over money-saving cuts and reforms in the education and health sectors while failing banks received billions.

Spain's central and regional governments claim the cuts are needed to help the country reduce its swollen deficit to within agreed upon European Union limits.

Organizers of the "Blockupy" protest said up to 20,000 people had demonstrated against the ECB's role in pushing European countries to cut government spending as part of efforts to reduce public debt.

Frankfurt police spokesman Erich Mueller said officers had used pepper spray and batons to stop some protesters from breaking through police lines.

Other protests Saturday took place in European cities including Barcelona, Brussels, Bilbao and Valencia.

"Like so many people, I'm really upset at the behaviour of our governments because they have totally caved in just to prop up the banks," said Jesus Alonso, 63, in Madrid.