Tens of thousands march across Spain as parliament rejects housing relief

Tens of thousands marched through Madrid and other Spanish cities on Saturday, in the wake of last month’s eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her Madrid flat (Dawn). The demonstrations came a day after lawmakers rejected government tenant-relief measures.

Authorities put the Madrid crowd at 70,000 while organisers claimed 500,000, AFP reported. The marches capped a week in which hundreds of protesters occupied a tent city in the heart of the capital (Dawn).

Friday’s defeated package included automatic renewal of tenancy contracts and restrictions on evicting vulnerable tenants. The bills fell after the Catalan separatist party Junts — on whose support the Socialist minority government relies — voted with the Popular Party and Vox against them (Dawn). PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo urged Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call early elections on Saturday; Spanish media reported Sánchez might call a snap election for November, which his office refused to comment on (Dawn; Reuters).

Marchers included Marcos Sainz, a 26-year-old librarian, who told AFP he would protest “until someone dares to regulate it all” (Dawn). Valeria Racu of the organising Tenants’ Union said a general strike would be called after talks with labour unions (Reuters).

Most demonstrations were peaceful. In Valencia, five people were arrested after clashes in which police fired rubber bullets and tear gas; about 30 protesters briefly got inside the City of Arts and Sciences before police ousted them (Dawn; Reuters). Protests planned in Barcelona and Hospitalet de Llobregat were cancelled over heavy rain (Reuters).