Outraged, but peacefully so in Barcelona

Barcelona was the scene on Sunday of a peaceful, and indeed festive, demonstration that attracted an estimated 98,000 people in support of the 15-M movement, which aims to channel public anger at a political system that prioritizes the needs of the international money markets and is imposing severe spending cutbacks on public services.

In the case of Barcelona the organizers were determined to avoid the violence that has been associated with the movement after police cleared a sit-in staged in front of Catalonia's regional parliament last week. The authorities were criticized for using excessive force, and fringe elements then upped the stakes by staging a picket that aimed to prevent regional deputies from entering the assembly building to debate an austerity budget for the debt-laden region.

The pacific nature of Sunday's march will have undermined the efforts of Catalonia's interior chief, Felip Puig, who has tried to tarnish the 15-M movement's image by linking it to the violence of a minority. Puig insists that the "peaceful resistance" of the movement is simply a front for a more violent approach, and that the public is mistaken in supporting the protestors.

The violence that erupted during the bid to block entry to the Catalan parliament last Wednesday was in everybody's minds during Sunday's demonstration. Reflecting the calls to reject violence by the movement's organizers, many of those marching carried banners and placards in favor of a peaceful protest. "Fewer beatings and more hugs," shouted one young woman among the crowds, producing smiles and laughter from those around her.

The protestors on Sunday had bigger fish to fry than Puig or the police; that said, many called for his resignation, and frequently booed the police helicopter hovering overhead. The point, says the 15-M movement, is to bring as many people together as possible, from all sectors of society to protest the country's worsening economic climate and the inability of Spain's Socialist government to protect vulnerable people's interests, along with what many see as the empty promises of the opposition Popular Party.

Sunday's march, and the fact that it passed off peacefully, was important to a movement that has been riven by infighting in recent weeks about its longer-term objectives and strategies to see them carried out, managing to bring together a disparate group of collectives.

Fearful that the event might be hijacked by a violent minority, or even by agents provocateurs, the organizers took every step possible, even telling marchers how to deal with troublemakers. Stewards and marshals were on hand to defuse possible problems, and the police presence was discreet. The organizers had warned violent groups to stay away, although a contingent of around 1,000 people gathered in front of the Catalan parliament in an echo of last week's troubles, but they later moved on.

The demonstration began at 5pm in Catalunya square, where marches from different points in the city had converged. There were a large number of families, with children carried aloft on their parents' shoulders. It took two hours before those at the end of the march were able to move out of the square.

A festive dragon made of paper and cardboard was the most "aggressive" aspect of Sunday's march in the Catalan capital, where many people carried posters equating politics with dishonesty, and others insisted on the thoroughgoing change to Spanish political institutions advocated by 15-M.

"We're changing the perception of reality," said one of the hundreds of placards carried by marchers between Catalunya square and the Pla de Palau, near Ciutadella park. According to EL PA?S calculations, 98,000 attended the protest. City Hall put the number at 75,000.