Spanish civil servants try to march on Parliament

MADRID: Firefighters, police in plainclothes and civil servants have tried to march on Spain’s Parliament to protest stinging austerity measures, but were blocked by police in riot gear manning layers of metal fences protecting the legislature.
Police got in shoving matches Monday with demonstrators who numbered more than 1,000 in the latest in a series of demonstrations against deficit-cutting reforms announced last week by the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
Firefighters wore black helmets and some of the police who took part wore shirts identifying them as union representatives.
The austerity measures include the suspension of one of 14 paychecks most civil servants get each year. Specifically, it is the one usually paid right before Christmas. Their wages were already cut by an average 5 percent in 2010.