Massive demonstrations erupted in Madrid and other Spanish cities on Saturday over the housing crisis, with organizers estimating hundreds of thousands of participants. The protests followed the parliament's rejection of government measures aimed at addressing the crisis.
The demonstrations come amid a crisis that began about ten days earlier with the eviction of an elderly woman from her home in the capital, a case that has become a symbol of the housing crisis that has plagued Spain for years.
On Friday, parliament rejected two bills proposed by Pedro Sanchez's government in an attempt to resolve the housing crisis, dealing a setback to the Socialist prime minister and paving the way for escalating protests.
Opposition parties in the Spanish parliament rejected the measures proposed by Sanchez's government on Friday. These measures included automatic renewal of leases and restrictions on evictions of low-income tenants.
The rejection of the measures has fueled anger among protesters already frustrated by the soaring cost of housing in the country.
Hundreds of protesters have been camped out for a week in the heart of Madrid to press for reforms.
Authorities put the number of participants in the Madrid protest at 70,000, while organizers claimed the figure was closer to half a million.
Marcos Sainz, a 26-year-old librarian, used to rent a two-bedroom apartment with friends for 900 euros ($1,000) a month, but he explained that the rent for a one-bedroom apartment now reaches 1,000 euros, half the average monthly salary in Madrid.
He told AFP that he would continue protesting the rising rents "until someone dares to regulate them, otherwise we will all have to leave Madrid, and that would be a shame, as I am a Madridista."
- Call for a general strike -
"We are demanding a basic right: decent housing, stability, and conditions that allow us to build a decent life," said Javier, a 31-year-old solar panel installer. "I spend half my salary on a tiny room."
“What can be felt in the streets is a new energy, an energy we haven’t seen in a long time, an energy that shows that eight days of people’s rule can achieve far more than eight years of progressive government,” said Valélia Raco, a spokesperson for the tenants’ union organizing the protest movement, in a statement criticizing the Socialist government of Sánchez.
She added, “This is where real politics begins, the politics that has always belonged to the people… We want to reclaim the historic tool that people who work to change reality have always used: the general strike.”
Affordable housing has been one of the most pressing social issues in Spain in recent years, but the protests gained widespread momentum after elderly tenant Maricarmen Abascal was forced to leave the apartment she had lived in for nearly 70 years after a company took over the property and raised the rent by 275 percent.
Following the public outcry, the new owners reached an agreement allowing her to return to the apartment for a reduced rent.
Average rents in Spain have nearly doubled in the past decade, while house prices have risen by about 90 percent, according to the real estate website Idealista.
- Early Elections -
Parliament rejected two housing bills proposed by Sánchez's left-wing coalition after the Catalan separatist party UNES, on whose support the government relies, voted against them, deeming them too rigorous.
UNES joined the People's Party, the main opposition party, and the far-right Vox party in rejecting the measures.
Following the vote, People's Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo urged Sánchez to "call elections as soon as possible."
He added that after eight years in power, Sánchez no longer enjoys the support of "the people or parliament."
Recent polls have placed the opposition People's Party ahead of the Socialists.
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