Reportage
Spain: thousands of people demonstrate their opposition to NATO in the streets of Madrid
Audio 01:13
Some 5,000 people gathered in Madrid to protest against NATO two days before the opening of the summit in the Spanish capital.
AP - Paul White
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Two days before the NATO conference organized in Madrid, some 5,000 Spaniards took to the streets of the capital to oppose the war and the transatlantic Alliance.
The organizers intend to prepare a counter-summit for peace, but several demonstrations have already been banned during the week for security reasons.
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With our correspondent in Madrid,
Diane Cambon
They were not very numerous, but wanted to make their opposition to NATO and the war in general heard loud and clear.
On the placards, messages for peace and others more explicit like this one on which one could read "Oil fuels wars".
Among the demonstrators, some members of the radical left party Podemos, such as MEP Miguel Urban, who does not fail to criticize the defense policy of the socialist government of which Podemos is a part.
"
We are here to say no to NATO but also no to Putin, to its imperialism which provoked an invasion and an intolerable war, but it is not by militarizing ourselves that we are going to fix things, it is not by increasing military spending this will improve.
We have to talk about another type of defence
,” insists the MEP.
Among the demonstrators, a criticism comes up almost all the time, that of
the increase in expenditure on armaments.
"
We must fight for peace and for all those people who are in need and for example spend the money in the construction of hospitals which we really need
".
While Spain has just celebrated 40 years of its membership in NATO, the head of the Spanish government has announced an increase in military spending against the advice of his government ally, the left-wing Podemos party.
►Also read: NATO in ten questions
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