• Plaque will honor 2011 movement for its role in ‘regenerating democracy’ •
Madrid’s municipal government has announced it has chosen the May anniversary of the 2011 protest movement known as 15-M to place a commemorative plaque in the city’s busy Puerta del Sol plaza, honoring the protesters who congregated there on May 15, 2011 and proceeded to occupy the plaza for three weeks to demand an end to austerity cuts accompanying Spain’s economic crisis.
The announcement made by the administration of mayor Manuela Carmena, whose Ahora Madrid coalition that controls the municipal council grew out of the 15-M movement, has sparked controversy and protest by the conservative Partido Popular (PP), who say that placing the plaque in proximity to another plaque commemorating victims of Spain’s 2004 terrorist train bombing in Madrid is “offensive” to the families of the victims.
Mayor Carmena has defended the placement of the plaque, which will read “We were sleeping, We awakened” and was approved by a vote of the Madrid council in November, saying it is important to recognize the role of young people who participated in the movement as a means of “regenerating democracy” in Spain.
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