Thousands of people have demonstrated this Saturday in Madrid to denounce the housing situation in Spain and demand a general strike, a day after the Congress of Deputies struck down the Government's decrees to try to respond to the rental crisis and evictions.
According to the Government Delegation, some 70,000 people participated in the four demonstrations called from different points of the capital, which ended up converging in Cibeles. The Tenants' Union, organizer of the protests, raised the figure to 500,000 demonstrators.
"Towards the general strike": the motto of the demonstration
The mobilization, called with the motto “Towards the general strike”, started around 12:00 p.m. with four simultaneous columns towards the city center. The northern column left Glorieta Emilio Castelar and descended along Paseo de la Castellana, while the southern one departed from Atocha and went up Paseo del Prado.
In the east, the demonstrators began their route at Hospital Princesa, crossed Diego de León and the Serrano/Alcalá axis, and the western column left Plaza de España to advance along Gran Vía and Alcalá until converging with the rest around the Cibeles fountain.
The eviction of Maricarmen, at the origin of the wave of protests
The eviction of Maricarmen, an 87-year-old woman evicted from her home in the Madrid neighborhood of Retiro, caused strong social outrage over the housing crisis and pushed the Government to approve two decree-laws on this matter, one with more general measures, such as the prohibition of evictions or tax bonuses for owners and tenants, and another focused on the automatic renewal of rental contracts.
However, the Congress struck down the decree with housing measures with the votes against PP, Vox and Junts. In addition, PNV and Coalición Canaria rejected the other decree, the one related to the renewal of rentals, which left the response promoted by the Executive without parliamentary support.
Chants, banners and criticism of Ayuso, Almeida, PSOE and Sumar
After that parliamentary defeat, several thousand people have taken to the streets of the capital to demand solutions. Amidst the sound of agitated keys, demonstrators chanted slogans such as “rentiers out of our neighborhoods” or “from north to south, from east to west, we will win this fight whatever it takes”, in addition to demanding a rent strike and a general strike.
Direct criticisms were also heard against the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez Almeida, with slogans such as “Ayuso, Almeida, go to hell”. In addition, several posters pointed to PSOE and Sumar, government partners, as responsible for the housing situation.
Among the banners displayed, messages such as “not one more Maricarmen”, “houses to live in”, “our neighborhoods are not for sale” or “this is not Tetris, five of us don't fit in thirty square meters” could be read, along with others that demanded a 50% reduction in rental prices, expropriating homes from 'vulture' funds or moving towards a general strike.
