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As many world leaders are proposing austerity measures to solve European debt crisis, a few hundred of demonstrators in Madrid staged a protest in the city's metro system to express their discontent over the government's plan to up the metro prices, on top of the austerity measures. Protestors dressed in their best clothes and equipped with their best sense of irony gathered at the Madrid Metro under the slogan "Travelling on the metro is a luxury". Karen, one of the protesters said, "I want them to know that our salary is not enough, that we cannot live with the minimum wage and on top of that have metro prices up, we cannot make it to the end of the month and they hike the price to top it off. So this is so they realize that in Spain and in the world, we cannot carry on like this." The protest organizer, "Youth without Future," said that with the non-violent, civil and all glamour and elegant protest, they wanted to highlight that the price hikes in the metro will only make subway an unaffordable luxury for the working class, as Spain is going through a series of austerity measures that are carried out to address the country's economic crisis. With increased prices and upped taxes, people are forced to live with the minimum wage and riding on the Madrid metro is like riding on the Orient Express, the luxury European railway service. The authorities in Madrid have instituted the highest hike in metro prices in 10 years with the 10 ticket pass increasing from 9.30 euros to 12 euros, a 30% increase. Metro tickets to the airport were doubled in price with a cost of up to 5 euros. [8]The Madrid regional government raised metro prices in 2011 and had promised at the beginning of the year there would be no increments in 2012. Participants were asked to take non-alcoholic beverages in champagne glasses to the subway in order to have party-like atmosphere on the two hour metro ride. The peaceful demonstration was considered by many protesters as a way of making the action more appealing to people, even though it was unlikely to lead the Madrid local government to lower metro prices. "This is the type of pacific sort of action that maybe won't have those tangible results, the prices of the metro won't necessarily go down as a result of a protest of this nature. But, if anything, it raises consciousness and it gets the message out there to people. This is the type of demonstration that is a lot more accessible for people and makes them maybe feel more at ease joining this sort of movement," Spain has been in the eye of the euro zone crisis as investors fear contagion from Greece. Spain is trying to avoid a bailout as experienced by Greece, Portugal and Ireland. ◆ 追蹤更多華視影音及圖文新聞：
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