Updated on
Summary Police and protesters clashed outside Spain Ministry of Industry as miners protested austerity cuts.
Six protesters were injured and one detained on Wednesday (July 11) as a demonstrators protesting against cuts in the mining sectors clashed with riot police in front of the Ministry of Industry building in Madrid.Joined by trade unionists in the capital, miners have been rallying noisily at the climax of a 44-day protest against a 60 percent cut in coal subsidies which they say will force mines to close and put many out of work.Thousands of miners and their supporters, chanting and throwing firecrackers, marched through the centre of Madrid in protest against government austerity measures, but Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced more pain in a new series of taxes and spending cuts.Near the Ministry of Industry where the demonstartion was supposed to end, some of the protesters that joined the miners scuffled with police.Centre-right premier Rajoy outlined further austerity measures in parliament to save 65 billion euros ($79.66 billion, including an increase in VAT sales tax and budget cuts for government ministries.The protesters marched down the citys main business strip, Paseo de la Castellana, to the Industry Ministry, waving banners.There were frequent loud bangs from firecrackers.Some of the miners who have marched through northern Spain since June hail from the Asturias, a traditional centre of leftist militancy.
