Tens of thousands of people marched through Madrid and other Spanish cities on Saturday to demand affordable housing and stronger tenant protection, a day after Parliament rejected government measures aimed at easing the country’s housing crisis.
Authorities estimated that about 70,000 people took part in the Madrid demonstration, while organisers put the figure at 500,000.
The protests followed more than a week of growing public anger over rising rents, soaring house prices and evictions, with the September 23 eviction of 87-year-old pensioner Maricarmen Abascal from her Madrid flat becoming a major focus of the campaign.
Protesters marched through the capital demanding reforms to make housing more affordable and protect tenants from eviction.
Javier, a 31-year-old solar panel installer who joined the demonstration, said access to decent housing had become increasingly difficult.
“We are demanding a fundamental right: decent housing, stability and conditions allowing us to construct a decent life project,” he said.
“I spend half of my salary on a tiny room,” he added.
Valeria Racu, a spokesperson for the Tenants’ Union, which organised the protest, said the demonstrations reflected growing public mobilisation over housing.
“What we are feeling in the streets is a new energy that we haven’t seen in a long time, and energy that is showing that eight days of people’s power can achieve more than eight years of progressive government,” she said.
“Now begins real politics — politics which has always belonged to the people and which will return once and for all to the streets,” she added.
The protests intensified after Spain’s Parliament on Friday rejected housing measures proposed by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority government.
The proposals included automatic renewal of tenancy contracts and restrictions on evicting vulnerable tenants, but opposition parties voted against them.
The defeat represented another political setback for Sanchez and has renewed questions over whether his minority government can survive until the next scheduled general election in 2027.
Housing has been a major concern for Spaniards for years as demand continues to outpace supply, pushing rents and house prices higher.
According to real estate website Idealista, average rents in Spain have almost doubled over the past decade, while asking prices for homes have risen by about 90 per cent.
Abascal’s eviction further fuelled anger over rising housing costs. Housing campaigners said she was forced to leave the Madrid flat where she had lived for more than seven decades after it was acquired by an investment company that sought to increase her rent by 275 per cent.
Following public pressure, the property’s new owners reached an agreement allowing Abascal to return to the flat at a lower rent.
Hundreds of protesters have also been occupying a tent city in central Madrid as they press for wider reforms to address Spain’s housing crisis.
