In Spain, about 20,000 people gathered in the Madrid Indoor Sports Stadium on Sunday (19 March) to protest against the country's rapidly-growing unemployment problem.

SYNOPSIS: Many of the demonstrators, from all parts of Spain, arrived at the Sports stadium in specially chartered buses. Most of those who took part were critical of the Government's recent measures to combat rising unemployment. There has been growing dismay among the Spanish working class at the government's failure to deal with the rising number of unemployed, which now totals 2.8 million people.

At present, about eight per cent of the total Spanish labour force is out of work, and the Government expects thousands more to lose their jobs before the middle of the year. Beneath a large banner which read "Work, bread and freedom" demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans and listened to speeches by left-wing political and trade union-leaders.

Speakers attacked the Government's economic policies, particularly a pact signed with opposition parties last October, which limited wage increases and pegged price-rises in exchange for promises of political reforms. The speakers said the pact had completely failed to come to grips with the unemployment problem.

The pact has not won much support from workers' associations and during the past six months there have been numerous protests similar to this one, demanding better economic conditions.