Around 25,000 people marched through Madrid on Saturday in support of Spain's state pension system, ahead of next month's general election, Al Jazeera reports.
Demonstrators walked from Atocha station to the Gran Vía, calling for pensions to stay linked to inflation and for the gap between men's and women's pensions to be closed. Many fear the system could be weakened depending on the election result.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has accused the conservative Popular Party of planning to weaken inflation-linked rises, while its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, said this week that his party would keep raising pensions in line with prices. Spain's monthly pension bill reached a record of almost €14.5 billion this year, with an ageing population and fewer workers per pensioner adding to the pressure on public finances.
Source: Al Jazeera
Photo: View of Madrid and Río Manzanares from Téleferico 20111029 1 by DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Illustrative image of Madrid.
