Mass anti-austerity protest march in Spain, Portugal

In Portugal, over one lakh people took to the streets of Lisbon and other Portuguese cities to protest against fresh austerity measures recently announced by the centre-right government.

With banners reading "Stop social terrorism" and "Soon the State will steal from the dead," the protesters were up in arms over the latest austerity measures announced a week ago by the government, as it struggles to meet its economic targets.

Portugal has already cut public sector wages and raised taxes to reduce its budget deficit and deal with its economic crisis.

The country agreed a 78bn-euro bailout deal and recently passed the latest review of its spending cuts.

Earlier on Tuesday, Portugal won a reprieve from its creditors, when the EU and IMF agreed to relax Portugal's deficit targets for 2012 and 2013, rewarding the Portuguese for pushing through reforms.

Similar protests were also held in Spain's capital Madrid where public sector workers from all over the country blocked the capital's Plaza de Colon square and nearby roads.