Thousands of demonstrators in Spain are demanding greater protection for renters after the failure of emergency housing legislation

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Spain demanding greater protection for renters, after the government failed on Friday to pass emergency housing legislation in parliament.

About 50 marches began on Saturday in cities including Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona.

“There is great anger in the streets,” a spokesman for the Valencia Tenants Union said after a demonstration began in the city.

Clashes occurred in the city between some demonstrators and the police.

The measures introduced by Pedro Sanchez's leftist coalition government on Friday came after public outrage over the eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her home last month after she was unable to afford a sharp rent increase.

Its eviction sparked protests across Spain, during which demonstrators demanded lower rents, an end to evictions, and a ban on investment funds, or "vulture funds" as the government described them, from buying properties.

Sanchez's defeat in Congress on Friday increases speculation about the possibility of him calling early general elections, which he is supposed to contest next summer.

His coalition government, made up of his ruling Socialist Party and its junior partner, the Somar coalition, does not have a majority in parliament.

Images showed demonstrators in the east coast city of Valencia clashing with police on Saturday near the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía arts centre, which was hosting a real estate summit.

A number of demonstrators removed barriers and threw police officers, who responded by firing rubber bullets, according to Spanish media.

Spanish public broadcaster RTVE reported that nine police officers were injured and one person was arrested.

The capital, Madrid, is witnessing one of the largest demonstrations. Estimates of the number of participants varied greatly, as the city's Tenants Union estimated their number at about 500,000 people, while government officials estimated that the number was close to 70,000.

Demonstrators have been camping for days in one of the city's main squares, Puerta del Sol.

A demonstrator named David told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE ahead of the protest: "We are not here for fun or comfort. We are here with conviction."

Another protester, 26-year-old librarian Marcos Sainz, told AFP that he was sharing a two-bedroom apartment with friends, paying rent of 900 euros (almost a thousand dollars) a month. Today, he said, the rent for a one-bedroom apartment often amounts to a thousand euros.

Sainz said he would continue to protest against rising rents “until someone dares to organize the whole thing,” otherwise “we will all have to leave Madrid.”

The Madrid Tenants' Union said on Friday evening that although the measures proposed by the government were insufficient, the rejection of the proposed legislation "exacerbates the housing crisis that is costing the working class their lives."

The union calls for a general strike due to the housing crisis.

The legislation introduced in Congress on Friday was divided into two separate decrees.

The first decree included suspending evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, extending lease contracts that expire before 2028 for two years, increasing taxes on tourist apartments, and imposing restrictions on the purchase of residential real estate by so-called “vulture funds.”

The second decree included automatic renewal of lease contracts, a major demand of many leftists and the Tenants Union.

The representatives rejected the first decree by a majority of 178 votes to 172, and voted against the second decree by a majority of 184 votes to 166.

Before the vote, the conservative People's Party and the far-right Vox party had already announced that they would vote against the initiatives, leaving the minority government dependent on the support of smaller nationalist parties in Catalonia and the Basque Country.

But on the eve of the parliamentary session, the “Together for Catalonia” party, which belongs to the moderate right and supports independence, indicated its opposition to the two laws, dooming them to failure.

The ruling coalition, led by Sánchez, hastily drafted the decrees in an attempt to calm housing protests that erupted after the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal in September.