Not backing down

Thousands of demonstrators affiliated with Spain's so-called "indignant" protest movement re-entered Madrid's Puerta del Sol square over the weekend after police had sealed it off for days.

The protesters' re-occupation of the square comes after 20 people were injured during street clashes on Thursday night. Police charged demonstrators who had gathered outside of the interior ministry. The clashes injured 13 protesters and seven police officers, none of them seriously.

The police claimed that the protesters had tried to climb the building's gates in order to gain entry to the interior ministry. But the protesters said they had done nothing to provoke the police.

National movement

When the protesters' vast ramshackle village in the square was taken down on June 12, they set up an information stand which they staffed around the clock. Police cleared the stand on Tuesday in a dawn operation that resulted in no injures. Since then, the protesters have had been trying to re-enter Puerta del Sol square.

Also known as the 15-M movement for the May 15 launch date, the "indignants" occupied the Puerta del Sol square during the run up to the May 22 municipal elections in Spain. They are calling for an end to corruption in politics and the influence of financial markets over the government.

Spain's 20 percent unemployment rate, the highest in the 17-member eurozone, is one of the main factors that triggered the movement.

Author: Spencer Kimball (AFP, dpa)

Editor: Sean Sinico