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Marchers in Madrid urge Spain to take in more refugees

Marchers in Madrid urge Spain to take in more refugees | iNFOnews.ca
People march during a protest demanding the Spanish government fulfill its pledge to give shelter to refugees, in Madrid, Saturday, June 17, 2017. A few thousand protesters marched in Madrid on Saturday to urge Spain's conservative government to fulfill its pledge to give shelter to refugees from war-torn countries like Syria. Placards read in Spanish: "Asylum is a right not a plea", "Yes" and "Open the borders". (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

MADRID – Protesters marched in Spain’s capital Saturday to demand the conservative government fulfil its pledge to give shelter to refugees from war-torn countries like Syria.

Braving temperatures that reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), several thousand marchers followed a huge banner reading: “We Want To Welcome Them Now! Enough Excuses, No More Barriers.” They marched along the city’s Gran Via street.

Spain has taken in less than 10 per cent of the refugees it had pledged to accept by last September. It has relocated or resettled 1,304 refugees, while it promised in September 2015 to take in 17,337 people — 15,888 from camps in Italy and Greece and 1,449 from Turkey and Libya.

In February, at least 160,000 people marched in Barcelona to demand the Spanish government fulfil its commitment on refugees.

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Abbey Westbury

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