MADRID (AP) — Spanish police say they arrested 45 people, including nine minors, in street violence after a large anti-austerity protest outside parliament. Dozens sustained minor injuries.
Tens of thousands of people marched to parliament to demonstrate against tax hikes, spending cuts, sky-high unemployment and alleged corruption. As the protest ended late Saturday, groups of youths threw bar chairs into a road and burned garbage containers.
Police later found four firebombs in a backpack abandoned on a street. The Interior Ministry says officers then seized 22 firecrackers, five flares and a stick from two minors near Madrid’s main railway station.
The ministry also said in a statement Sunday that 40 people, including 12 police officers, received minor injuries in the clashes. Two of the officers received hospital treatment.
