MARGARET Thatcher’s plaza in Madrid has been vandalised for the second time since it opened on September 15.

Protesters have this time stuck a sticker over the official sign – which originally read Plaza de Margaret Thatcher – to rename it Plaza de la Juventud Exiliada, meaning Square of Exiled Youth.

The vandalism comes in protest of Spain’s high level of youth unemployment, which currently stands at over 50%.

The sticker has now been peeled off, but the damage will reportedly cost €100 to repair.

Protesters previously vandalised the square – named for the controversial former British Prime Minister –just a day after its official opening.

British expats plastered the signpost with stickers reading ‘Hillsborough Justice Campaign’ and ‘Justice for the 96’, both references to the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989, which saw 96 Liverpool FC fans crushed to death.

Thatcher, as prime minister at the time, and the Sun newspaper were accused of putting the blame on the fans and supporting police over the grieving families.

Madrid is the first city in the world to honour Thatcher with a square, with Mayor Ana Botella describing her as ‘one of the great personalities of the 20th century’ at the opening ceremony.

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17 COMMENTS

  1. In many OPEN minds stefanjo she will be remembered as one of Britain’s saviours, on many fronts. Oh that all our leaders showed the same devotion to duty and determination no matter how demanding. A beacon for women’s equality. ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house’
    Easy like us to be keyboard warriors but when the chips were down in wars against union power and the RG’s she put her head above the parapet

  2. I wonder WHAT the reason for these protests are? Thatcher had little if any effect on Spain. Maybe some in Spain just don’t like the Brits? REAL Leaders with bullocks will always lead on the Front of attack, anyone see leader Cameron, Clegg, Miliband, et al … doing that? … or just running off at their mouths? UK has mouths- needs more bullocks to be “Great” again. The Queen has more!

  3. If she had no effect on Spain, why name a plaza after her? It’s what she REPRESENTS of course. Which is, rampant right-wing repression of the workers and elevation of the greedy drones. Women’s equality? I should cocoa!

  4. The greedy WORKERS – the miners – were NOT WORKING, causing hundreds of other employees who WERE WORKING to lose their jobs. Hence she became the IRON Lady which is ironic since the STEEL workers were also NOT WORKING.

    Funny old world.

  5. One might not agree with everything that Margaret Thatcher did but there is no denying that Britain was a much better and more successful country at the end of her tenure. Who in their right mind would want to go back to the clapped out Britain of 1979?

  6. I’d love to do that Jane. I’d be thirty five years younger. Luvely Jubbly. Could watch her being ripped to bits on Spitting Image again. It’s a leap of logic to equate any improvement to Britain (debatable) with the reign of the Rusty Robot.

  7. It’s incredible sometimes how much amnesia overcomes some folk, Stefanjo for example. According to them, life before Thatcher was some kind of nirvana – a candles and matches handy for the power cuts, winter of discontent, kind of nirvana. She didn’t leave just victims in her wake Stefanjo. The winnners far outweighed the losers, and still do…

  8. And her legacy lives on. Food banks. Unaffordable housing. Powerless workforces. Suicidal, poverty stricken, disabled people. Massive financial inequality. Minimum wage, firmly screwed down. Toffs in charge. Prisons bulging at the seams. Everything once owned by the state now owned by foreigners. Bank of England run by a Canadian. Crooks in the Commons. Endless foreign wars. Nuclear “deterrent” only to be used with America’s permission. Faked unemployment figures. Imported coal being burned. German Rolls Royce and Minis. Ship building dead in the water. American Jaguar cars. N.H.S. going, going, soon to be gone. Right-wingers slavering to leave the E.U. Ex-pats to lose their heating allowance. Derisory old-age pensions.
    As a crappy old comedian used to say “and there’s more”.
    But of course, there’s none so blind as they who will not see.

  9. Given a choice I’d take a post Thatcher UK over a pre-Thatcher UK any day. Most of the above problems are down to life in a globalised world, and if she had not made us more competitive it wouldn’t have only been the shipbuilding, it would have been a lot more. More than 20% of the UK’s GDP is from manufacturing, It would more than likely be zero were it not for Thatcher. The sick man of Europe would have been the dead as a dodo man of Europe. BTW, there are quite a few left-wingers, good old-fashined labourites, slavering to leave the EU, they’re joining UKIP in droves…

  10. On this score Stefanjo is totally correct. I can only guess the Thatcherites here had already left the country.
    Yes, the uk was in a bad way – so pretty much any imbecile could have made an improvement. which is what we got.
    Oh coal isn’t profitable, lets simply shut all the mines – and put most of the country out of work. Oh the managers of national icons want to sell to foreigners, to line their pockets instead of running successful companies – yeah sure.

    Study some history – not just The Sun or The Mail. Find out why Thatcher had to sell Harrods to Fayed, instead of a better offer by Brits, and you’ll see how she and her cunservatives pis8ed all over the country!

    But what do I know. I always enjoyed the walk thorough Plaza de Stalin, de Mao, de Hitler, de Franco… oh wait, some liberal lefty hippy complained about the Hitler one. I think its now Plaza de Mussolini. So thatcher is surrounded by friends. Its sooo hot in those plazas. just the Spanish sun?

  11. There is no such thing as society was her claim (there was certainly less of it left after her careful embrace) so how could society be intent on vandalizing her legacy?
    She will be remembered by many as a hateful destructive woman who sold off everything that wasn’t nailed down and treated everybody that didn’t give in to her as dirt.
    She did less than nothing for female emancipation and promoted monetarily which was and is a fiscal disaster. Apart from that I didn’t like her. Could you tell?

  12. @Iestyn ap Robert: i think you have amnesia. Remember when the establishment wanted a day of national mourning with parades… And then the media ‘discovered’ many ruined and forgotten towns that were planning *street-parties*

    Lets not forget how she retired as a hero – oh wait, she was stabbed in the back by her fellow cunservatives.

  13. Clearly, she was divisive BigJon, and most of that is driven by political tribalism. Personally, I prefer to judge her performance based on the facts and it’s a fact that the UK as a whole was a lot better off after her, on just about every measure you might care to choose, that it was before her.

  14. The only way was up so of course the country was better. Why *most* hated her was because of the evil way she did things.
    Yes, coal could no longer be subsidised. But to close virtually all the mines so quickly, without adequate alternatives in place, destroyed countless towns and lives. (and seriously contributed to riots and resentment).
    And lets not forget she screwed-up the economy so royally that the pound was falling continuosly… the richest man in the world (sultan of brunei) said he was taking his money elsewhere. But was persuaded not to by Al Fayed, who mysteriously immediately owned Harrods (house of Fraser) much to the well documented anger of Lonhro who tried but was ‘not allowed’ to buy it.
    Thatcher was just one slap in the british face after another.
    Personally i prefer to judge her by how many people, and the uk as a whole, who think we’re all better off now she’s dead.

  15. The UK improved economically through both the 70s and 80s thanks to North Sea oil and gas. It was due to that windfall that most homes were now able to enjoy central heating – not comprehensive before then, by any means.

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