The 15M movement is one of the most salient phenomena of the Spanish recent history of social movements. As reflected in surveys, the number of people involved was extraordinary and a broad majority of the population felt sympathy towards it. How to explain the outbreak of the political protest generated by the 15M movement in Spain? Which ingredients fed the protests and formed the climate for people to engage? The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a qualitative research on citizens' perceptions about the performance and quality of democracy, and the role that citizens should play in it; several focus groups were administered two months before May 15th. The research has been also complemented by interviews with participants and with information gathered from the participant observation during four months in the movement itself. This research allows us to better understand the process of framing (Snow & Benford, 2000) in which the protest emerged and developed. Which political ideas were mobilized? How and why did the movement connect with the population? Which kinds of framing processes were displayed? This is a relevant discussion since the 15M movement has been an emergent form of protest with “replicas” in other occidental countries such as Indignati or #Occupy, etc.Peer reviewe
