Police Arrest Five Activists In ‘Robin Hood’-Like Heist

Madrid, Spain – Police officials in Madrid, Spain have arrested five left-wing activists after they allegedly pulled off a “Robin Hood”-like heist earlier this week.

According to NBCNews.com, the five suspects who have been arrested were members of the southern Andalusian Workers’ Union. The activists’ looting of a supermarket was meant to emphasize the plight of people suffering through the country’s recession and its severity.

The five Andalusian Workers’ Union activists made off with nine shopping carts full of food from a supermarket in the small southern town of Ecija and fled without paying for them. After the Tuesday heist, the activists turned around and gave their “hard-earned” bounty of food to poor unemployed people.

According to TheMiami Herald, one of the activists was arrested Friday during an eviction of members of the union who were squatting on Defense Ministry land. They were protesting the lands abandonment, and they were demanding that the land be handed over to hard-pressed farmers.

Two others were arrested on the same day, Friday, and the other two were arrested on Thursday.

Protests by unions have become more and more common place across Spain. Not only unions, but public workers, students, and other groups are trying more and more to make their voice heard throughout Spain’s financial problems.

Spain is in the middle of its worst financial crisis in recent memory. Conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government has pursued a number of austerity methods to help their financial situation. These methods include deep spending cuts and tax hikes.

“Robin Hood” was thought of as being a hero to the people as well as an outlaw when I was growing up.

Are these five activists worthy of being thought of as heroes or merely outlaws today?