Spain's indignado protesters mark anniversary of anti-austerity rallies

Tens of thousands of demonstrators take to streets across Spain to mark first anniversary of Madrid's Occupy movement

Indignado protesters in Barcelona, Spain, play drums as they mark the first anniversary of the anti-capitalist movement. Photograph: Emilio Morenatti/AP

Tens of thousands of "indignado" protesters have taken part in overnight rallies across Spain, with police evicting a few hundred hardcore demonstrators from city squares during the largely peaceful protests.

At least 100,000 people took to the streets across dozens of towns and cities to mark the first anniversary of the Occupy Madrid's movement.

"They don't represent us!" was the most common chant directed at the country's politicians as a carnival atmosphere reigned in cities such as Puerta del Sol. Protesters there included parents with young children on their shoulders and a group of pensioners called The Indignant Grandparents.

A new conservative government led by Mariano Rajoy has banned camps this year. Its attempts to impose time limits on the protests failed, however, with thousands of chanting people still occupying Puerta Sol's city square at midnight, despite being told to leave at 10pm.

Police acted calmly and moved into squares between 2am and 5am on Sunday morning, when indignado numbers had reduced.

Eighteen people were arrested in Madrid as authorities fretted about the impact of the anti-capitalist protests on jittery financial markets. With Spain at the centre of the eurozone crisis, and Spaniards broadly sympathetic towards the peaceful movement, police appeared to be under instruction to avoid the kind of baton-wielding violence they used on indignados in Barcelona last year.

"The right to demonstrate has been combined with a lack of incidents and no camp-outs," the interior ministry said. "The police operation came to an end at 5am on Sunday after a calm day."

It was, however, the first of four days of protests, which come as Spain plunges back into recession and youth unemployment soars above 50%. Tight policing is expected to continue through till Tuesday.

Rajoy's government has imposed a fierce austerity programme that includes health and education cuts, as fellow eurozone countries demand it carries out a dramatic reduction in the deficit over the next two years. The measures have helped drive unemployment up to 24% as investors demand ever-higher interest rates for loans to Spain, with 10-year bond yields now at 6%.

Banks and bankers were also the targets of the protesters' ire after a week that has seen the country's fourth-largest bank, Bankia, rescued with public money and part-nationalised.

Indignado numbers at the weekend were difficult to verify, with the interior minister claiming only 22,000 turned out in Barcelona. The city's police estimated 45,000 had turned out for the rally, while organisers claimed some 200,000 took part.