SPAIN: At Least 121 Injured In Barcelona...As Police Clear Plaza...And Clash With Protestors.

AP/ B.GLOBE

     Truncheon wielding Barcelona riot police clashed with protesters while trying to clear a plaza of makeshift camps for a possible soccer celebration...injuring at least 121...84 protesters and 37 police.

TO SEE :55 English EURONEWS VIDEO REPORT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwwiqVogfHk&feature=player_embedded

EUROLAND: IST UPDATE: Strikes And Protests Break-Out Over Austerity Measures.

NEW LINK/  LATIMES / 30 Sept /
Striking workers marched  from Athens to Bucharest, protesting cuts to jobless benefits, public service wages and pensions. Most marches were peaceful but there were clashes with police in Barcelona and in Greece,  shots were fired at a convoy of police-escorted trucks that were delivering goods despite the strike.
( Picture: a police car on fire in Barcelona)

SPAIN: World Cup Victory Is Relief For Beleagured Nation.

AP/GOOGLE/ ALAN CLENDENNING and FRANK GRIFFITHS/     After months of economic gloom with persistent 20% unemployment, political squabbling and two nationalist regions fighting for greater autonomy, Spain is finally in a jubilant mood after its much-touted soccer team won the World Cup. "It has been very strange, but now it is being tolerated," said Saray Lozano, a taxi driver from Barcelona who was happy for Spain's win. "If it weren't for football, you might get rocks thrown at you" for publicly displaying Spain's national symbol."

SPAIN: More Than 1 Million Catalans Protest, Demanding Greater Autonomy.

BBC/      Saturday in Barcelona, more than a million people marched demanding greater autonomy for the Catalan region, a day after a constitutional court declared that there was no legal basis to recognize Catalonia as a nation. Despite the protest, many apparently were still rooting for Spain in the World Cup.
Sunday, Spain won the match versus Holland 1-0... in double overtime.

New Barcelona Hotel Sparks Protests.

GUARDIAN.UK/
A new 5-star hotel owned by Americans that resembles a glass sail is angering locals who claim it is illegal and ruins the sea views.
The W Barcelona Hotel, "built at the new sea entrance to Barcelona's port, and reaching 100m (328ft), has opened its doors to guests just as legal action has started to get it knocked down. Protesters gathered outside it this week. "It is shameful that a luxury hotel be built on public land when the cost of a room is about the same as what the unemployed get [per month]," said Gloria Melich, a campaign spokeswoman. The 26-story hotel looms over the Barceloneta neighbourhood, traditionally a poor district of fishermen and port workers, offering rooms starting at €330 (£303) a night, with suites for €900 plus."

The Death Of Bullfighting In Barcelona?

NYTIMES/
A referendum before the Catalan Parliament would end bullfighting. There has long been talk in this part of Spain about a total prohibition on toreo. Fans don't think so but many think a ban is likely to pass.
Bullfighting in Spain has been in trouble for a long time. And the economy hasn’t helped. Ticket prices are akin to opera’s. Fights are expensive to produce. The number of bullfights plummeted across Spain this year.

Barcelona Police Begin Prostitution Crackdown.

LAHT.
In downtown Barcelona, police officers began a crackdown on prostitution, making 16 arrests and identifying 78 others .
Two Nigerian prostitutes, two Brasilian transvestites and another 12 foreign illegals were arrested.

Guatamalan Women Fakes Kidnapping To Extend Foreign Affair.

LAHT.

Police said that a Guatamalan woman invented a kidnapping story to lengthen her vacation in Barcelona, where she went to join a man she met on the Internet.