Protesters in Sol

It is interesting how things change sometimes isn't it?  The last post I put on this blog was about a kind of fun little parade in Puerta del Sol.  Now, it looks like Spain is all over the international news because of a protest that started in Sol, spread through the country, and continues right now.

I don't think I'll go into depth here on what this is about, the history behind it, or my personal opinion.  But, the basic premise is grounded in the fact that there are a lot of frustrated, unemployed people (especially youth) in Spain and they are extremely concerned about the future.

I'm sure you can find news on this all over but here's a BBC article and one with a video by the protesters. This protest has been declared illegal, but the police are currently not planning to break it up unless it gets unruly.

Anyways, it's obviously impossible for me to avoid going and checking this kind of stuff out :).  So, I went down there this afternoon.  Puerta del Sol definitely looks different today than it did the last time I blogged.

Part of the camp in Sol

One of the Metro entrances

The bear and tree statue, symbol of Madrid

Protestors and tourists

When you're busy protesting,
the best place to wash your feet is in the fountain

Police riot vans lined up

The foodie in me loves that they're
making paella while protesting :)

There were also quite a few signs up around Sol.  Maybe I'll put some of those in a different blog post so this one doesn't get any longer.

I think it will be interesting to see what comes of this.  The elections are tomorrow (Sunday), but the protesters are planning to stay for as long as it takes.