Madrid – Spain, thousands of citizens protest for the right to housing: “Call for a general strike”

The call for a “general strike” swept through Madrid and dozens of other cities in Spain, where thousands of citizens took to the streets in defence of the right to housing. The protests were accompanied by whistles and the noise of keys, pots and pans.

The protesters expressed anger and disappointment after the rejection in the Congress of Deputies of two legal decrees approved by the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, which aimed to address the housing crisis.

The decrees were rejected by a right-wing parliamentary majority, made up of the People’s Party, Vox and the Catalan force Junts per Catalunya.

In Madrid, the protesters marched chanting “Shame!” and “Speculators out of our neighbourhoods!”.

According to the authorities of the capital, around 70 thousand people took part in the protest, while the Tenants’ Union estimated the participation at more than half a million.

The demonstrators set off from four different points of Madrid and joined together at Plaza Cibeles.

The protest was also joined by the activists of the “Indignados” movement, who for about a week have set up a protest camp in Puerta del Sol, in the centre of the capital, despite the heavy rainfall.