Spain police beat student protesters

Riot police charged a crowd outside the stock market in Spain’s second largest city as protesters set fire to garbage cans and threw rocks and other objects at them during the Wednesday rally.

“We did not expect this degree of repression, nobody broke anything until they charged,” a Spanish student, Pau Bronsoms said.

Authorities made an unspecified number of arrests. Students also marched in Madrid and Valencia on Wednesday.

Hit by the global financial downturn, the Spanish economy collapsed into recession in the second half of 2008, destroying millions of jobs. Analysts say Spain’s economy is expected to enter a new recession in the first two quarters of 2012.

Spain’s unemployment rate has soared to 22.85 percent, the highest in 17 years, meaning that there are more than five million jobless people in the country.

Spain has witnessed a series of nationwide protests against harsh austerity measures that have targeted the country’s health, education, and security services.

PG/HGH

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