Star Metro - Housing protesters dig in for long stay in Madrid square

He was one of dozens of protesters who camped out overnight Saturday in the vast Puerta del Sol square after a demonstration sparked by the eviction last week of an 87-year-old woman, Maricarmen Abascal, from her lifelong home.

"We are prepared. The housing unions have been bringing tents, sleeping bags, portable batteries -- everything we need to be comfortable," the 22-year-old student told AFP as he stood in front of the roughly 100 tents set up in the square.

"We have to make the most of the attention the housing issue has received following Maricarmen’s eviction, which has so clearly exposed the cruel reality of the housing business."

Bananas, apples, doughnuts, juice boxes and other snacks were available to protesters at a large central stand covered in an orange canopy.

A handwritten sign at the stand appealed for donations of gloves, coffee, milk, sunscreen and garbage bags.

A pair of volunteers armed with brooms and dustpans moved between the tents, cleaning up litter, while others distributed bottles of water to demonstrators.

Dozens of activists sat on the ground taking part in a workshop on peaceful resistance. In another corner, demonstrators painted banners with slogans to decorate the square.

- 'Final straw' -

After Saturday's march in Madrid, thousands of demonstrators -- some carrying tents already assembled and ready to pitch -- poured into the square to begin their sit-in.

"We will stay for as long as necessary," Alberto Macias, a 24-year-old tennis instructor, told AFP at the square, calling Maricarmen's eviction "the final straw".

"They are driving the entire working class out of our neighbourhoods, where we have always lived."

Abascal was forced to leave the apartment where she had lived for 70 years after a real estate firm acquired the property and raised the rent by 275 percent to 2,650 euros ($3,000), according to the Madrid Tenants' Union.

Police have so far shown little sign that they plan to forcibly remove the demonstrators, with few officers visible in the square -- a busy hub intensively used by commuters and tourists.

At one point, an officer appeared on the balcony of the regional government headquarters overlooking the square and took several pictures of the protest camp.

"We know what we’re up against," said Sergio, a 28-year-old NGO employee who spent the night in a tent in the square with two others and declined to give his surname.

- 'Crumbs' -

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government is expected to approve a package of measures dubbed the "Maricarmen decree" at its next cabinet meeting.

It will reportedly include the automatic renewal of rental contracts and further restrictions on evictions.

But Sergio and other activists in the square said they would only be satisfied with deep reforms to a housing market they argue heavily favours landlords.

"We will have to see what the decree actually contains and how they try to sell it to us," Sergio, who wore black trackpants and slippers, told AFP outside his tent.

"We’ve seen other measures that do not solve the housing problem but instead make it look as though the government is trying to do so."

Short-term tourist rentals such as Airbnb and investment funds are blamed for driving up prices and reducing the supply of homes available to residents.

Campaigners are calling for lifelong rental contracts, stiff restrictions in rental hikes and tourist apartment rentals and a massive increase in investment in public housing.

"We won't be satisfied with crumbs," said Maria, a 28-year-old member of a housing union in Moratalaz, a southeast Madrid district, who spent the night in the square.

ds/mdm/yad

M.Johnston--SMC