Euro demo against austerity

Around 100,000 people are expected to take part in a demonstration in Brussels on 29 September. The demonstration, organised by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), is a protest against the austerity policies of governments across Europe.

Speaking to a meeting of Spanish trade unionists, as part of the preparations for their own general strike on the same day, ETUC general secretary John Monks accused the EU and national governments of listening “too much to the markets — and not enough to the people.” He compared the current policy of “cutting in a recession” to the disastrous policies governments pursued in the 1930s, adding, “We all remember what happened in that tragic decade.”

The ETUC reports that protests against government austerity measures are also being planned across Europe in Portugal, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Poland.