Abstract
In 2011, there were intense protest movements around the world. These movements were not limited to underdeveloped or less developed countries. Likewise developed or developing countries with relatively high level of democracy experienced protest movements and new social movements emerged. Throughout the world the angry crowds occupying the important squares of the countries they live in both expressed their socioeconomic problems and revealed the political systems of their countries and the problem of democracy within this system. In this study, the Indignados/15M movement that emerged in Spain during this period is evaluated. On May 15, 2011, the Spanish people and especially the young people occupied the squares to express their anger and discontent with the economic crisis and the austerity policies, and the angry demonstrators began to be called 'Indignados'. There was an intense participation in the actions of this movement, which apparently did not have a hierarchical structure and did not receive support from established political parties and unions, and its forms of action spread to other European countries. In this study, first of all, the birth of the movement and the conditions that led to the birth of the movement are revealed. Then, the meaning of square occupations as public spaces, the organizational structure of the movement and its impact on Spanish politics are discussed. In this article the Indignados/15M movement is subjected to an analytical examination in the context of Spain.