Spain orders arrest of Robin Hoods - Gayo Lues

The move came after hundreds of unemployed activists and union members stormed into two supermarkets in Arcos de la Frontera and in Ecija and took away nearly 30 shopping carts filled with food without paying.

Far-left legislator Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo also took part in the act, organized by the Sindicato Andaluz de Trabajadores (SAT).

“Supermarkets had their share of responsibility in the economic crisis,” said Gordillo.

“At this moment of crisis, when the town is being expropriated, we want to expropriate the expropriators, that is, landlords, banks, and the big supermarkets who are earning money in the middle of an economic crisis. The town can’t pay for broken plates when there are people who’ve got no food,” one syndicate representative said.

One of the supermarkets agreed to donate the looted foodstuffs, but the other lodged a legal complaint against the activists.

Spanish people have been suffering heavily from the economic crisis, but the activists could not “take justice into their own hands,” Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said after ordering the immediate arrest of those involved in the theft.

The Spanish economy has been struggling since the country’s collapse into recession as the result of the global financial crisis roughly five years ago.

The worsening eurozone debt crisis has increased Spain’s financing costs and the country is seeking a European Union bailout similar to the one Greece received. The austerity measures are being implemented to ensure that Madrid qualifies for the loan.

DB/JR/MA