Anyone who has spent time on the little island of El Hierro will have seen cars parked with windows down and keys in the ignition as well as doors to property left standing open.
I used to walk into an apartment block and pick a room to stay the night without ever seeing a single person.
Next morning I would go to the local bar to find the landlord, tell him I'd stayed the night and square him up.
I did this on at least three seperate occasions that I can recall.

Barcelona hardly got trashed, the right wing press in Spain like to write off the demonstrations as "yobs" because they dont want it to become mainstream

For example, the responsible youth of Valencia spent 1 week protesting against the education cuts. These were teenagers from 13-18. The right wing politicians, media and police were saying how they needed to "defeat the enemy". The enemy being young people wanting an education. All the violence was from the poilice ordered by the politicians

There is no democracy anymore, only a police state

The same happened in the UK with the student fees demonstrations. The situation is a disgrace. The only thing the politicians are good for are for stopping the young people from questioning the acts of the bankers

As for safety, Spain is a safe country. The most dangerous areas are those where foreign criminal gangs are based e.g. the Costas and some parts of Barcelona and Madrid

As for Oviedo, you'll struggle to find a safer city anywhere in the world. Or at least thats what the people here tell me. And actually that is all that matters! The perception of crime is more harmful than the crime itself

An article here may spread a little light on who were buying those flats in Sesena, and why there was such demand

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...83103P20120402

Seems like mostly young people
But why the great demand? Plenty of property for sale all over Spain surely?

Turns out it's the banks offering special deals.

I have to admit a 242 Euro monthly mortgage does sound tempting, even for a colditz apartment!

but did the canaries ??

so the only people who can attend rally's and protests are students,
one that doesnt surprise me, it has been the same for decades
two when they get a proper job they suddenly hand the batton over to the next generation
finally give them all a job to go to with money at the end of the week and see how many take time off for protesting.

The pit ponies I remember very well, but the canaries must have been before my time.
I doubt if they'd have been chirping very long either, with a lungful or two of coaldust.

Well having seen quite a bit of it on different news channels I can only say that they looked like yobs to me, though some may have been better described as mindless thugs carrying and using a variety of weapons and many wearing masks and hoods to prevent identification.

Peaceful demonstrators they were definitely NOT.

Well yes, we've seen these type of rent-a-mob activists in recent student and anti-city protests in London over the years.
They'd be wise to tone it down this year - it's Olympics year and I'm sure the powers that be will clamp down hard on any unrest to avoid a repeat of last year's riots. Anyone who has children of that age should ensure they are not taking part in any demos as I suspect harsh prison sentences will be the order of the day.

I see the Spanish authorities are suggesting a minimum two years of porridge for the Barca thugs.

so there looks to be good news on the construction horizon

even if it is building prisons to hold the protestors sent for a 2 year stretch
perhaps they could be employed building the prisons ??