Spaniards join miners protests in Madrid

The miners, who are marching with hard hats on and helmet lights, received a very warm welcome from people as they reached the capital’s Puerta del Sol square on Wednesday morning.

The miners are angry with a 63 percent cut in subsidies to coal mining companies, major contributors to the Spanish energy market.

The demonstrators arrived before a planned address by the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to parliament in which he is expected to announce further spending cuts.

The miners believe that the government should follow the agreement signed by the former Socialist government which aimed to reduce the subsidies by only 10% in 2013.

“The government promised us money, and they haven’t given it to us so we’re going to fight for it,” said Miguel Gonzalez Rodriguez, a miner from the province of Leon. “We’re prepared to go all the way with this,” he added.

Spain’s economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of the year as the country fell back into recession for the first time in three years.

Meanwhile, the government expects the economy to contract by 1.7 percent in 2012, but many analysts have warned that tough austerity measures could worsen the slump.

SAB/MA

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