Tens of thousands protest in Spain after failed housing reforms

Tens of thousands of people are rallying across Spain to demand affordable housing measures, the day after members of parliament rejected an emergency relief package for tenants.

Demonstrators took to the streets in the capital, Madrid, and about 50 other cities on Saturday, calling for a general strike and reforms to address the country’s increasingly expensive housing market.

On Friday, the Spanish parliament voted down two decrees proposed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority left-wing government that intended to quell the crisis.

“It’s a shame,” Nando de Anguulo, 26, told the Reuters news agency while protesting in Madrid. “It only proves that it is us, the people, who have to adapt to the political parties, and not the politicians to what the people want, and this can’t go on like that.”

Valeria Racu, a spokesperson for the Tenants’ Union, said Saturday’s rallies revealed “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”.

The eviction of an 87-year-old pensioner from her Madrid home triggered the movement more than a week ago, as hundreds set up tents in central Madrid to push for reforms.

“Now begins real politics – politics which has always belonged to the people and which will return once and for all to the streets,” Racu added.

In the southeastern city of Valencia, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to break up demonstrations. About 30 protesters managed to get inside the City of Arts and Sciences, a landmark cultural building, before police ousted them.

Protests in dozens of other cities were peaceful, as people waved signs with slogans such as “Houses to live in, a planet to inhabit” and “the right to a roof”.

Pressure on Sanchez

Friday’s vote was a blow to Spanish leader Sanchez, who heads a coalition government made up of his Socialist Party and the far-left Sumar.

The two measures were scrapped after the right-wing Catalan separatist party Junts voted against them, arguing they would tighten the housing market.

Junts joined the main opposition Popular Party (PP) and the far-right Vox party in downing the measures.

PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo urged Sanchez after the vote to “call elections as soon as possible”, claiming he had the support of “neither the streets nor parliament”.

Spanish media reported on Friday that Sanchez would be watching the strength of Saturday’s protests before making a decision.

Sanchez’s office did not comment on the reports.