MADRID, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Dozens of people were injured on Thursday when residents of a Madrid shantytown fought Spanish riot police with stones and sticks to try to stop bulldozers destroying homes authorities say are illegal.

Police fired plastic bullets and teargas at stone throwers, some of them women and children, and led baton charges at protestors in the Canada Real shantytown, home to around 30,000 people, many of whom are immigrants from Morocco and Romania.

"They are animals," shouted an elderly man at police as television cameras filmed the destruction of a brick home.

Dozens more homes have been targeted for destruction in the shantytown which sprawls for 15 km (9 miles) across what authorities say is public land.

The shantytown sprang up early last decade but has swelled in size this decade as Spain received more immigrants than any other European country.

Madrid's conservative Popular Party mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon has vowed to close all the city's shantytowns and relocate their families.

Local authorities knocked down over 25 homes on Oct. 9 in Canada Real, many built with old doors and windows. Residents said houses were levelled with their possessions still in them.

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