MADRID: Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across Spain, including Madrid, to demand affordable housing after lawmakers rejected emergency measures aimed at protecting renters, deepening anger over soaring housing costs and rising evictions.
About 50 marches took place on Saturday in cities including Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. Protesters filled streets in Madrid and dozens of other Spanish cities, calling on the government to take stronger action as high rents and property prices make housing increasingly difficult to afford. Demonstrators in Valencia also clashed with police, according to local reports.
“There is a lot of anger in the streets,” a spokesperson for the Valencia Tenants Union said.
The protests came after Spain’s Parliament rejected a package of emergency housing measures backed by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s minority government. The defeat dealt a major political setback to Sánchez as public frustration over the housing crisis continues to grow.
The proposed measures included automatic lease renewals and stronger protections against evictions for vulnerable tenants. Opposition parties voted against the package, preventing the government from moving forward with the proposals.
The housing crisis gained further attention after an 87-year-old woman was evicted from her Madrid apartment. Her eviction sparked weeks of tent-city protests and renewed public pressure on the government to protect vulnerable renters.
Government estimates put the number of protesters in Madrid at about 70,000, while organizers said hundreds of thousands more joined demonstrations across the country.
Labor unions and tenant groups are now facing growing pressure to call a general strike and demand major reforms to Spain’s housing market.
The protests have also increased political pressure on Sánchez, with opposition leaders calling for early elections and raising questions about whether his minority government can survive the growing crisis.
