Fed up of dog dirt underfoot on its streets, a Spanish town has hired a detective to catch owners who fail to pick up after their pets, officials said Wednesday.

The mayor's office in Colmenar Viejo, a historical town north of Madrid, said fines and warning signs had failed to coax some owners into picking up their dogs' mess.

Protesters set up burning barricades at a top Spanish university and thousands demonstrated across the country on Thursday in a strike against education reforms that has seen scores of arrests.

A police spokeswoman told Agence France Presse that officers arrested one person on Thursday morning "for possession of flammable material" after bins were burned at Madrid's Complutense university campus.

Thousands rallied in Spanish cities on Saturday to mark International Women's Day with noisy demonstrations for equality at work and against the government's bid to curb abortion rights.

The annual awareness day drew particular attention this year with campaigners defending women's labor rights as Spain struggles with a 26-percent unemployment rate despite exiting recession in 2013.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late equalizer as Real Madrid avoided a bruising derby defeat at Spanish title rival Atletico Madrid with a 2-2 draw on Sunday.

Ronaldo pounced on a loose ball inside the area to net the 82nd-minute equalizer — his 23rd goal of the season for the league leaders.

Bare-breasted feminists hurled knickers at the archbishop of Madrid as he arrived at church on Sunday in protest at his support for a tightening of Spain's abortion law.

Five topless protesters swooped on Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela as he got out of a car to attend an evening mass at a church in central Madrid.

Thousands of pro-choice campaigners converged on the Spanish capital Saturday to voice their opposition to a government plan to restrict access to abortion in the mainly Catholic country.

Demonstrators shouting slogans and carrying banners that read "It's my right, It's my life" crowded around a Madrid station to greet a "freedom train" of activists from northern Spain for the country's first major protest against the plan.

Britain said Wednesday it has received assurances from Spain that there will be no repeat of an incident in Gibraltar where Spanish officials searched British diplomatic bags.

The British embassy in Madrid lodged a formal protest with the Spanish government on Monday following what it described as a "serious infringement" of diplomatic protocol.

Rubbish piled up in the gutters of Madrid on Thursday as a strike by street-sweepers facing sackings and salary cuts began to leave its mark on the major tourist destination.

Public bins overflowed with drinks cans and cigarette ends and central squares such as the Puerta del Sol were strewn with waste paper as the open-ended strike entered its third day.

Gareth Bale had an El Clasico debut to forget as Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Camp Nou thanks to goals from Neymar and Alexis Sanchez.

Bale had been surprisingly selected for just his second start since joining the club by Real boss Carlo Ancelotti, but struggled to make an impression as Barca dominated the first-half.

Shepherds led a flock of 2,000 sheep through Madrid on Sunday in defense of ancient grazing, droving and migration rights increasingly threatened by urban sprawl and modern agricultural practices.

Tourists were surprised to see downtown traffic cut to permit the ovine parade to bleat — bells clanking — across some of Madrid's most upmarket urban settings.