Mass protests over Spain austerity Demonstrators march during a protest against unemployment and austerity measures in Madrid, Spain. ANGRY workers have staged mass demonstrations in Spanish cities, protesting the country's high unemployment rate and demanding political reform. Thousands of demonstrators including health, transport and administrative workers marched in central Madrid and Barcelona on Sunday, to the din of horns, drums and yells of "Government resign!" Similar demos were called in 60 cities in a nationwide movement led by the two main trade unions and a wide collective of other groups. They were the latest in months of strikes and protests against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's austere economic reforms in a recession that has driven the unemployment rate over 26 per cent. Rajoy says the cuts are necessary to meet the targets for cutting Spain's budget deficit that he has agreed with European authorities. He insists the painful measures will strengthen Spain's finances and economy in the long run. Protestors complained that through this austere economic drive the government and European Union leaders were imposing unfair suffering on citizens. They also vented anger at the political establishment, aggravated by recent investigations into alleged corruption in the governing Popular Party and even the royal family. "Our current problems can only be solved by political change," said one demonstrator in Madrid, Pilar Gomez, a 52-year-old nursing assistant, wrapped in a red, yellow and purple Republican flag. The risk premium is going down and the stock market is going up. But the one thing that isn't changing is the six million people unemployed," she said. We can't allow them to condemn us to economic misery with the stroke of a pen.