Tens of thousands of people have protested across Spain calling for greater protections for tenants after the government failed to pass emergency housing legislation.
About 50 marches took place on Saturday in cities including Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona.
“There is a lot of anger in the streets,” a spokesperson for the Valencia Tenants’ Union said. Clashes have taken place between some protesters and police in the city.
The measures put forward by Pedro Sánchez’s leftist coalition government on Friday followed public outcry over the eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her home last month after she was unable to afford a sharp rent increase.
Her eviction triggered nationwide protests across Spain with protesters demanding lower rents, an end to evictions, and a ban on investment funds – or “vulture funds” as the government has termed them – buying property.
Sanchez’s defeat in Congress on Friday heightens speculation that he might call an early general election, which was not due until next summer.
His coalition government, made up of his ruling Socialist party and junior partner the Sumar alliance, does not command a majority in parliament.
Photographs showed protesters in the east coast city of Valencia clashing with police officers on Saturday near arts centre Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, which was hosting a real estate summit.
Several protesters removed barriers and threw objects at officers, who responded with rubber bullets, Spanish media reported. Public broadcaster RTVE said nine police officers were injured and five people were arrested.
One of the biggest demonstration happened in the capital, Madrid, where estimates of the number of participants varied widely. The city’s Tenants’ Union said there were 500,000, while officials put the figure at 70,000.
Demonstrators held banners reading “There won’t be peace for rentism” and “I study to have a future, not to have a tiny apartment”. They shook the keys they were holding and chanted: “We have the keys of all the city”.
Some had also camped in one of the city’s main squares, Puerta del Sol, for days.
One protester, David, told RTVE ahead of the protest: “We’re not here for pleasure or comfort. We’re here out of conviction.”
Another protester, 26-year-old librarian Marcos Sainz, told AFP news agency that he used to share a two-bedroom flat with friends, paying 900 euros (£766) a month in rent. Today, he said a one-bedroom flat often costs 1,000 euros.
Sainz said he would protest against rent rises “until someone dares to regulate it all”, or “we’ll all have to leave Madrid”.
Spanish police said they had arrested three members of a far-right group, some of whom had performed Nazi salutes, as they tried to reach demonstrators in the square.
On Friday night, Madrid’s Tenants’ Union said that although the government’s proposed measures were insufficient, the rejection of the proposed legislation “exacerbates the housing crisis which is costing the working class their lives”.
It is calling for a general strike over the housing crisis.
The legislation put forward in Congress on Friday was divided into two decrees.
The first included the suspension of evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, a two-year extension to rental leases due to expire before 2028, tax increases for tourist apartments, and a restriction on the purchase of residential properties by so-called “vulture funds”.
The second decree included the automatic renewal of rental contracts, a major demand of many on the left and the Tenants’ Union.
MPs rejected the first decree by 178 votes to 172 and voted against the second by 184 to 166.
Prior to the vote, the conservative People’s Party (PP) and far-right Vox had already said they would vote against both initiatives, leaving the minority government depending on the support of smaller nationalist parties in Catalonia and the Basque Country.
However, by the eve of the parliamentary session, the centre-right, pro-independence Together for Catalonia (JxCat) had signalled its opposition to both laws, condemning them to failure.
Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2kej47095no
