Organizers and police were surprised on Saturday when more than 40,000 people showed up for a protest against education cuts in Alicante, Spain. The demonstration ended up so large as people came from towns all over the province — they felt the education issue was so important.
After marching through Alicante, the crowd gathered while a manifesto was read demanding the government increase spending on education and not cut it, and that included hiring more qualified teachers and spending money on textbooks and school lunches.
The Alicante protest is a continuing on of similar protests late last year, one in Madrid — when almost one hundred thousand demonstrators gathered to complain about massive cuts in education brought into being by the then Socialist government.
With this year’s new government in power, and even more cuts in spending happening, it doesn’t look like education in Spain is going to be getting any more money any time soon.
You’ve got to hand it to the people in Alicante though. At least they’re trying.