The day before we left for Spain, King Juan Carlos abdicated the throne to his son, 46-year old Crown Prince Felipe. Many Spaniards believe that now is the time for the country to pass a referendum ending the monarchy in Spain. Many groups have been vocal about this and have organized protests in the city. One of the news stories for the study abroad class project is focused on these protests in Madrid. Today we accompanied some students to a protest and found ourselves in the midst of the action! We walked with the protestors from Plaza de Ciebeles to Puerta del Sol.

“Democracia real, ya, sin reyes” was posted on one of the many signs that were carried. The translation that I found for this phrase is “Real democracy, already, without kings”. There were various organized groups carrying banners and leading chants, but most of the protestors were in small, unorganized groups. There were several photographers and news crews in the middle of the protest march, so it’s funny to think that perhaps our family might show up in one of the Spanish media for this event.

After we reached Puerta del Sol, we sat with the group to listen to several speakers rally for the cause. A popular chant was “Espana mañana sera republicana!” – “Spain tomorrow will be republican!” It was a very interesting experience, but we couldn’t hang with the protest for more than 2 ½ hours, so we left to have dinner.  When we passed back by the site over an hour later, the speakers were still going strong!