Some 200,000 People Rally in Madrid

Protests, Strikes Erupt Across Europe

Date: 13 November 2022 - 22:11

News ID: ۱۰۸۹۵۷

MADRID (Dispatches) --
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rallied in Madrid on Sunday in defense of the region’s primary care services, warning plans to overhaul the system would “destroy” local healthcare.
On a sunny afternoon, huge crowds rallied at four points across the capital and marched on city hall in a mass protest under the slogan: “Madrid rallies in support of public healthcare and against the plan to destroy primary care services”.
A regional government spokesman said there were 200,000 people.
“Healthcare for all, your health should never depend on your wallet,” read one huge green banner as thousands of voices chanted “Public healthcare!”
The protest convened by local associations and municipalities takes aim at the health policies of the regional government of right-wing leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso -- including a push for public-private healthcare partnerships and its restructuring of primary care.
The protest comes ahead of a planned strike by nearly 5,000 regional family doctors and pediatricians scheduled for November 21, due to “the overload of work, endless appointments and lack of time with patients”.
They will join an earlier strike by medical staff over the new model for non-hospital emergency centers, which have seen some offering only video consultations due to a lack of staff.
Speaking to reporters at the rally, Monica Garcia of the hard-left Mas Madrid party said the health policy of the regional government, which is run by the right-wing Popular Party (PP), was destroying the public health system.
“What they are doing is an unprecedented disaster,” she said.
The protest in the Spanish capital was dubbed the ‘white tidal wave’ because of the white medical coats worn by many protesters.
The Madrid region is at the center of the protests. Partial walkouts started in the region last Monday, with an all-out strike called for Nov. 21 for nearly 5,000 Madrid doctors.
Organizers say that though Madrid is the Spanish region with the highest income per capita it is also the one that spends the least amount per capita on primary health care. They claim that for every 2 euros spent on health care in Madrid, one ends up in the private sector.
Protests have unfolded all across Europe pushing back against soaring cost of living prices driven by inflation in what some have labeled a “winter of discontent.”
Workers in Greece held a 24-hour general strike last week when thousands of protesters marched
through Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki, prompting brief clashes with some protesters breaking off from the main group, and throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks at police who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.
The strike disrupted services around the country, with ferries tied up in port, severing connections to Greece’s islands, state-run schools shutting, public hospitals running with reduced staff and most public transport grinding to a standstill.
A similar scene unfolded in Belgium, as traffic backups were reported across the country after workers set up picket lines at supermarkets and shopping centers to protest runaway inflation and energy bill spikes due in part to the Ukraine war.
More than 100,000 government workers could be walking off the job this winter in the United Kingdom to protest cost of living hikes, according to The Sun, and Reuters reported that drivers working for 12 British train operators announced they will strike on Nov. 26.
Striking subway workers shut down half of the Paris Metro lines Thursday, a nationwide day of walkouts and protests by French train drivers, teachers and other public-sector workers demanding the government and employers increase salaries to keep up with inflation.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in France last month in a strike that called for pay hikes to keep up with inflation that had hit 6.2%.
Scotland’s main teaching union said on Thursday that it had won an “overwhelming mandate” to strike along with a major rail union and postal worker union, who are also threatening to strike this winter, Financial Times reported.
Workers in Spain are also pushing back against cost of living increases as truck drivers have called for an indefinite strike next Monday, News24 reported.
Thousands of Bulgarians took to the streets on Friday in a rally organized by the country’s two largest labor unions to protest inflation and demand higher salaries this winter to compensate for the rising cost of living.
Inflation hit a new record in October in the 19 countries that use the euro currency. Economic growth also slowed ahead of what economists fear is a looming recession, largely as a result of those higher prices sapping Europeans’ ability to spend.