Madrid Festival Reroutes Thousands of Sheep to Avoid Housing Protest Camp
Protesters say 6.8 million retirees need pensions that keep pace with prices as Spain’s monthly pension bill hits a record 14.5 billion euros.
- On Sunday, the annual Transhumance Festival guided 1,410 sheep and goats through central Madrid, altering its traditional route to avoid the Puerta del Sol protest camp established by housing activists.
- The camp in Puerta del Sol formed following the September eviction of 87-year-old resident Maricarmen Abascal, whose death in hospital sparked nationwide protests against runaway housing costs and insufficient tenant protections.
- On Saturday, around 250,000 demonstrators marched through Madrid demanding protection for the state pension scheme, carrying banners saying "protect and guarantee our pensions" ahead of next month's election.
- Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez accused the Popular Party of planning to weaken inflation-linked pension increases, while PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo pledged to maintain the mechanism if elected in November.
- Activists remain determined to maintain the camp "until things really change," according to organizer Marcos Navarro, while demonstrators across Europe protest rising costs of living and public service privatization.
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160 Articles
Thousands of sheep take over Madrid's streets for Transhumance Festival
Over 1,400 sheep and goats took over Madrid's streets on Sunday, delighting spectators at the 33rd annual Transhumance Festival, which followed a different route this year to avoid a housing protest.
Madrid. Around 25,000 retirees from all over the country demonstrated yesterday in Madrid to demand decent pensions, a revaluation in line with the increase in consumer price index (CPI), which measures annual inflation, as well as ending the gender gap.
The festival was born in 1994 at the initiative of the Association Trashumancia y Naturaleza, in collaboration with the City of Madrid, to demand a new Law of Vias Pecuarias
A multitude of citizens are mobilized for the right to housing throughout the country. Some defend the camping against the arrival of ultras, such as those who last October 12th, carrying Francoist flags, presented themselves at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid with the intention of ridiculing the demonstrators and provoking confrontations. Others respond to the cameras of television programs in which bulls and narratives circulate that question the…
Demonstrations seen across Europe over range of issues from cost of living to school conditions
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