250,000 Rally in Madrid Demanding State Pension Guarantees
Organisers said the march pressed for inflation-linked increases, a higher minimum pension and changes to protect 6.8 million Spanish recipients.
- Around 250,000 demonstrators marched through central Madrid on Saturday, walking from Atocha station to the Gran Via while carrying banners demanding authorities "protect and guarantee our pensions."
- Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez accused the Popular Party of planning to weaken inflation-linked pension increases, intensifying a political row ahead of next month's parliamentary election.
- Approximately 6.8 million Spaniards receive a state pension averaging 1,576 euros monthly. Pilar, 64, told AFP "pensions should be sacrosanct" and urged the public to "defend everything we've worked for."
- Popular Party leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo pledged on Monday to maintain annual inflation-linked pension increases if elected, though critics cite earlier warnings from Popular Party member Ester Munoz that the system would "collapse."
- The Madrid demonstration coincides with a weekend of protests across Europe, as authorities in France deployed 70,000 officers and Italy stationed 1,500 in Rome and 1,800 in Milan amid heightened security concerns.
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96 Articles
Demonstrators display banners and flags during protest in defense of public retirements and for better wages in the center of Madrid, Spain, on October 24, 2026. Oscar Del Pozo/AFP Thousands of protesters went to the streets this Saturday (24), in the center of Madrid, to defend public retirements, a month from the legislative elections. The left accuses the right of wanting to open the way for a partial privatization of the social security syst…
About 50,000 people gather in Spain to defend public pensions, as well as salaries, housing, health and public education.
Several collective pensioners from all over Spain have joined COESPE's call to demand that the minimum pension be equal to the net interprofessional minimum wage (SMI), currently set at EUR 1,221 per month
Large demonstrations are expected in various European cities on Saturday. In the Spanish capital Madrid, 25,000 people have taken to the streets.
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