Protests against the housing crisis in Spain continue today. A demonstration was held in Madrid, where about 70,000 people gathered, some of whom carried posters calling for a nationwide strike, and clashes broke out in Valencia, EFE reported. More than 50 similar protests were held in cities across the country.
The protests, organized by the Tenants' Union, come after the Congress of Deputies (the lower house of parliament) rejected yesterday the government's measures to tackle the housing crisis.
The defeat in parliament of the minority government's measures has fueled speculation that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez may call early elections instead of waiting for the regular ones scheduled for 2027.
The newspaper "Pais" reported, citing sources close to Sanchez, that he plans to assess the level of public discontent over the failure of the measures over the weekend and then decide whether to call early elections.
Thousands of people gathered in the early afternoon in the Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid to demand a 50 percent reduction in rents, the introduction of indefinite-term rental contracts and the expropriation of housing from “predatory funds“.
In a statement to the media, the spokesperson for the Tenants' Union, Valeria Raku, stressed that the public mobilization was due to the anger caused by the eviction of the elderly woman from Madrid from her home on September 23.
“Yesterday we found that we have a Congress hostage to rentierism. A Congress completely disconnected from the reality on the street, completely disconnected from this social majority, from this social consensus that exists among our entire population, that rentierism is a wound in our society and that we must put an end to it“, said Raku.
Commenting on speculation about a possible announcement of early elections, she added: “This is a warning to everyone. We will not tolerate another four years without addressing the problem in our country. This will continue until… everything changes“. She also called for a nationwide strike.
Meanwhile, the demonstration in Valencia resulted in clashes with police guarding a building where a real estate investment congress was being held.
Nine National Police officers were injured in the clashes that broke out at the end of the demonstration, police sources said.
The protest in Barcelona was canceled due to adverse weather conditions.
Source: www.bta.bg