Twenty injured in clashes between police and demonstrators in Spain

Aug 5, 2011, 5:48 GMT

Madrid - Twenty people were injured overnight in clashes between protesters and police in the Spanish capital Madrid, emergency services said.

The demonstrators belonged to the so-called 15-M protest movement - also known as The Indignant Ones - which demands changes to the country's political and economic system.

Police charged against demonstrators who had gathered in front of the Interior Ministry building late Thursday.

Thirteen demonstrators and seven police officers were injured. None of them suffered serious injuries. Three people were reported to have been detained.

Police said protesters had tried to enter the ministry, but demonstrators said they had not done anything to provoke police.

The protesters were demanding entry into Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square, where police have prevented them from entering since Tuesday. There have been constant protests, with thousands of people attending rallies and trying to enter the square since then.

The Puerta del Sol is a symbol for the 15-M, hundreds of whose members camped there for a month until mid-June. A few dozen protesters, who had remained there, were expelled by police peacefully on Tuesday.

The expulsion led to a new surge in protests which had quieted down in July.

Protest camps were set up at city squares around Spain after the 15-M erupted into headlines on May 15, when tens of thousands of people took to the streets.

The movement is demanding an end to corruption and politicians' financial privileges, and to the influence of financial markets over politics. It emerged largely as a consequence of Spain's 20-per-cent unemployment rate, the eurozone's highest.