Demonstrations in Spain, higher pension

MADRID – Tens of thousands of pensioners in Spain is demonstrated for an increase of their pensions. In the centre of Madrid gathered Saturday a huge crowd despite the pouring rain. On the banners were texts like: “I’m a retired, not an idiot!” And “thieves! They steal our pensions!”

Also in many other cities were demonstrations took place, such as in Barcelona, Seville, Bilbao, the Canary Islands and the Balearic islands. In total there were in the whole country more than a hundred demonstrations planned.

The protests were held under the motto “dignified pension payments.” The participants are demanding an appropriate payout that will be adjusted for inflation. The conservative government of Mariano Rajoy had pensions for 2018 rather symbolic increased by 0.25 percent. The inflation was in 2017, however, 2 per cent, for pensioners representing a substantial decline in purchasing power.

Benefit

On average a man in Spain 1247 euro pension, a wife 797 euro, wrote the newspaper El País recently. The last few weeks have been the pensioners of Spain for several times in protest to the streets, merged.