Thousands of protestors on Thursday took to streets outside the headquarters of Spain’s ruling Popular Party (PP) in Madrid to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Their demand followed Rajoy’s involvement in an allegation that he took secret payments from an illegal slush fund prior to the PP’s victory in 2011’s election.

Protests were triggered online and happened peacefully at first. But then there were clashes between protesters and police, resulting in many injuries and several extremists being arrested.

A protester uses a megaphone as he holds a sign that reads "Spaniards and beings of other planets: Rajoy is dead", during a demonstration against the People's Party. (Photo: Reuters)

Earlier, leaders of opposition parties in Spain called on Rajoy to step down from office following the “El Mundo” newspaper on Sunday revealed that Rajoy might have received up to 54,000 USD corruptly in the previous government. Rajoy denied the accusation and said that he would not resign.