Oct. 15 Protest

I attended the Oct. 15th protest in Madrid and it was amazing. Similar protests were held all over the mundo - more info here. Article from Spanish newspaper (en ingles!) here.  

I am not sure how other cities organized but in Madrid various groups of people started all over the city and surrounding area and walked into the city center to Plaza de Cibeles and later to Puerta del Sol.

I started at Puerta del Toledo.

Here I waited with a large group of people and we waited until another group of people walked to us. We joined them and then continued on - meeting more and more groups along the way.

I gained a whistle and joined in with the cheering, whistling and chants.

Some signs I enjoyed:

 

(Rachel - sadly there was no "end road work" sign...)

When we got to Plaza de Cibeles the crowd was HUGE. I had never seen so many people (until Puerta del Sol later that day).

Whenever a new group joined (or sometimes for no apparent reason) everyone raised their hands and waved them. It reminded me of jazz hands. I'm not sure why they did this but I joined in. I keep meaning to ask if this is a Spanish thing or a random protest thing...I'll ask some day.

 

I joined the crowds onto Puerta del Sol. As we got closer the roads got smaller...and the crowds grew. It was a pretty intense amount of people. After I finally got to Puerta del Sol I escaped the crowds to get a cup of coffee (and because...why not have a cup of coffee?) and then I returned the crowds.

When I left I had to push my way through the plaza to the metro stop and for a while I almost gave up. The crowd was that thick. Think sardines...only with sweaty people. And some of them not so willing to let people through.

Since it was night and I was in the crowd none of my Puerta del Sol pictures do justice to the massive crowds. Soo...instead you can watch this video I found on youtube.