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Thousands march in Spain to protest austerity

223 days ago

(AP:MADRID) Several thousand anti-austerity protesters in Spain have marched down a major road in the capital banging pots and pans.

Many protesters also blew whistles as they blocked part of the Castellana boulevard Saturday carrying placards saying "We don't owe, we won't pay."

With unemployment nearing 25 percent, Spain has introduced biting austerity measures as well as financial and labor reforms in a desperate bid to lower its deficit and assuage investors' misgivings.

Spain has been granted a (EURO)100 billion ($130 billion) loan by the Eurozone group of nations to help its banks worst hit by the collapse of a bloated real estate sector. Still, Spain's economy is in a double-dip recession with a forecast to shrink by 1.5 percent this year and by up to 0. 6 percent in 2013.

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