Anti-Austerity protests in Spain didn’t just go on for a second day, they got bigger.  And it coincided with a Border Police strike on the other side of the border in Portugal that caused all sorts of travel delays on the Iberian Peninsula and will likely continue into at least another day.

Hundreds of thousands of people were on the streets in Spain’s 55 largest cities on Saturday and Sunday, upset with the Mariano Rajoy government’s inability to deal with unemployment, high taxes and public funding cuts that have taken huge chunks of money out of the economy.  The policies are so unpopular, that even the cops were out protesting late last week. 

The weekend demonstrations were held alongside with anti-fascist events, condemning what some consider a backwards slide into the policies of the Francisco Franco government. 

Next door in Portugal, the strike by border police resulted in long queues at airport security checkpoints at the country’s major airport.  They’re protesting understaffing and salary cuts of up to 12 percent for civil servants announced as part of the debt-wracked nation's 2014 budget.  Last week, cops surrounded Parliament in Lisbon, demanding an end to cuts to their budget they say will endanger public safety.