Spain has got used to anti-austerity marches, but this is the first time since the crisis hit that so many different professional and civic groups have come together to demonstrate. Education workers, health workers, miners and judges, people against evictions,thousands and thousands of ordinary Spaniards who's jobs and services are disappearing fast.
(the woman starts talking)
"I'm here for my parents who have had their sickness benefits cut, I am here for my dignity and for my daughter's future."
(the man starts talking)
"For health, for education, for everything that belongs to us, we are angry because we pay you, we are your bosses, we pay your wages. In my job, if I don't do things right, I would be fired. What are you doing sitting there? All of you have to change. People are telling you you have to go."
It's the middle classes that are the most angry, one in four Spaniards are now out of work, and disgust at politicians, increasingly viewed at a detached and crooked elite, is tangible.
this is a giant teritho (I might have spelled it wrong, sorry), one of those spicy Spanish sausages, but the word in slang here also means a swindler, someone who steals money, a reference to the corruption, and the cry that goes up in these crowds is there's not enough bread for so many terithos.
There was certainly enough boots on the ground, authorities well aware of the public mood, have drafted in sixteen hundred riot police to provide security.
Earlier this week, prime minister Mariano Rajoy promised to tackle corruption and get spain back to work again.
"the economic and social reality of our country is terribly tough and based on that, we will act."
But promises aren't good enough for these people, their anger won't dissipate until they feel their lives are getting better again.
Rory Challance, Alpha zero, Madrid.
