Star Metro - Madrid housing protesters vow to maintain pressure on government

The demonstrators set up around 100 tents in the capital's busy Puerta del Sol square after tens of thousands took to the streets on Saturday to demand action to lower housing costs and protect tenants.

The movement was triggered by the police eviction on Wednesday of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her lifelong Madrid apartment.

"I'm asking you all to be courageous, to fight, to defend what belongs to us," said Abascal in a video posted on X by the Madrid Tenants' Union.

Hospitalised since her eviction, she had become a symbol of the protest against Spain's runaway housing prices.

The prime minister, sharply criticised even within his own camp for failing to contain prices since he came to power in 2018, is due to present a new bill on Tuesday.

He urged other political parties to back the bill, which is expected to contain measures such as the automatic renewal of rental contracts and further restrictions on evictions.

But Sanchez's party lacks a majority in Spain's parliament, so it is unclear whether the package will be approved. A similar bill was defeated earlier this year.

"We are demanding that this decree-law be enacted, to protect the right to housing and prevent evictions," said Carlota, a 29-year-old protester who spend the night among the tents set up in the touristic square.

"We are living through a serious situation in Spain right now," said the woman, calling for "an end to putting capital and investment funds before people".

- Baffled tourists --

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 Tenants Union.

The images of Abascal being carried from her home on a stretcher after police broke down her door caused widespread outrage and put the housing crisis centre-stage as the country approaches elections next year.

Beatriz Blanco, 37 and self-employed, told AFP she had encountered a similar situation in her own circle: "I have a friend whose 65-year-old mother had to move back in with her because she could no longer pay her rent, which had just been increased."

- 'Insane' prices -

She slammed property prices across the country as "completely insane".

Over the past decade, the average rental price per square metre in the country has almost doubled, reaching 15.10 euros ($17.05) per square metre in August, according to real estate portal Idealista. For buyers, it now stands at 2,355 euros, an increase of more than 50 percent over the same period, according to official figures.

"It's an utterly unsustainable situation," said Blanco, adding that she was ready to remain in the camp "at least for another night".

The under-fire Sanchez was scheduled to visit a social housing scheme in Barcelona on Monday afternoon. In the evening, a demonstration is due to take place there near the Congress Palace where he is expected to attend an awards ceremony.

On Sunday, he said his government would work tirelessly to present new housing measures as early as Tuesday, following a cabinet meeting.

Those measures will be closely scrutinized by activists and protesters alike.

"A strong message needs to be sent," Miriam Bue, spokesperson for the Spanish tenants' union, told AFP.

Bue said she expects "nothing" from the right-wing Popular Party, the regional authorities responsible for housing policy in Madrid.

Instead she hopes the left-wing central government will accept her organisation's proposal to introduce "open-ended rental contracts" instead of the current five-year terms.

"Otherwise, we will step up our movement," she warned.

L.Girard--SMC