A "citizen’s tide" flooded Spain’s streets Saturday in another major protest. There were popular mobilizations in 50 cities with the main focus in the capital.

The reason for this renewed mass action by ordinary Spaniards was “the brutal cuts to social rights” that have been applied “using the crisis as a pretext,” according to organizers.

The "citizen’s tide" brought together various protest movements, including the "white tide" (public health services) "green tide" (education), "orange tide" (social services), "yellow tide" (libraries), "purple tide" (women’s rights) and the 15-M, or Indignados movement.

Carrying placards which condemned everything from cuts in the health sector to massive bailouts granted to Spain’s banking system, crowds banged drums and chanted, while dozens of riot police stood on the sidelines.

The march coincided with the anniversary of a failed coup attempt in 1981 by Civil Guard officers who stormed Parliament and held deputies hostage until the next day. Organizers dubbed this march a protest against today’s ‘financial coup’.

The fresh protests come amid a corruption scandal that poses a serious threat to the ruling Popular Party and further evidence that brutal austerity measures for the 99% and huge public hand-outs to the banks are crushing the economy and public finances.

Thanks to growth- and tax revenue-destroying spending cuts and a mega 40-billion-euro bank bail-out, Spain’s deficit widened to 10.2% of gross domestic product in 2012, the highest in three years. The jobless rate in Spain will rise again this year to 27%, from 25% at the end of 2012, and the economy will contract again in 2013 by the same 1.4% as last year, the European Commission forecasts.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Bulgaria to protest corruption and the country's rising cost of living.

The demonstrations came a week after nationwide demonstrations forced the conservative government to resign. More than 10,000 protesters marched in downtown Sofia under the slogan, "End to illusions, civil action every day!"

They shouted "Mafia!" and "All parties out!" near parliament and the presidency, waving white-green-and-red Bulgarian flags.

Rosen Pleveliev, the president of Bulgaria, appeared briefly before the crowd but was greeted with boos and jeers.

He said he was willing to meet next week with trade unions and civil groups to hear their demands and seek a way out of the crisis that forced the resignation of Boyko Borisov, the former prime minister, on Wednesday.

Borisov's surprise resignation came after demonstrations turned violent, with several dozen people injured and two men setting themselves on fire. One of them died and the other remains in hospital in critical condition.

Despite his resignation, activists have vowed to continue with the protests.

Frozen wages

The Black Sea city of Varna, where the daily rallies against high electricity bills and deepening poverty began two weeks ago, saw its largest demonstration on Sunday, local media reported.

Between 20,000 and 40,000 protesters blocked traffic along key boulevards in the city, calling for the resignation of Kiril Yordanov, the mayor, and denouncing "the economic domination of the mobsters".

They burned an effigy outside the headquarters of the local electricity utility monopoly, Czech Energo-Pro.

About 3,000 protesters also gathered in the Black Sea city of Burgas and between 6,000 and 10,000 joined the demonstration in Bulgaria's second-largest city of Plovdiv in the south, media reports said.

Rallies were also held in numerous other towns across the country.

The protests that have swept the European Union's poorest country over the past two weeks were sparked by anger over mounting electricity bills and frozen public wages.

The average monthly salary in Bulgaria is $534 and has not increased for years.

Activists who met at the weekend said they agreed on the need for constitutional changes with majority elections instead of the current proportional system and the possibility to sue and even sack legislators if they did not fulfill their duties.

They also demanded a moratorium on power bills, no value added tax on electricity and a review of all contracts on privatizing the power sector.