Sun Shines Over Half the World

Puerta del Sol, May 20, 2011 [1]

This is how Spain's El País reported (16-10-2011) the occupation of Puerta del Sol in Madrid:

"The Puerta del Sol [Sun's Gate] overcrowded; people together, excited, chanting against banks and politicians; the people, the euphoria. The 15-M [Spanish indignants: indignados] had yesterday a new historic day. And this is the third in its short existence, barely five months old. The movement born of outrage in the streets in Spain exported its protest to half the world: Tokyo, Sydney, Auckland, Kuala Lumpur, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Los Angeles, São Paulo. (...)
"In the crowded assembly of the Puerta del Sol it was released the figure of half a million attendees. In Barcelona, the authorities spoke of 60,000, while organizers claimed it was 400,000." (My translation. See here)

And this is what The Economist had to say (14-10-2011) about the Indignados:

"THERE was no rock-throwing or tear gas, but on July 9th Spain's polite 'indignant' protesters still chalked up a victory. After being endorsed as the ruling Socialist Party's candidate for prime minister in the election due by next March, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba used his acceptance speech to propose electoral reform. This might not sound much. But Mr Rubalcaba's call for Spain to adopt Germany's voting model, so as to install proportional representation but still let people choose their local deputies, was a direct sop to the movement that spontaneously occupied city squares in mid-May, claiming that the politicians 'don't represent us'." (See here)

Image Credits
[1] Puerta del Sol, Madrid. 20-05-2011. Wikipedia