Spain is experiencing widespread unrest with the first general strike in 14 years

Transport services and other public services across Spain have witnessed severe disruptions, in light of the country's first general strike in 14 years, called by the main trade unions to protest the housing crisis and rising costs of living.

Demonstrations were also scheduled for later on Wednesday, with Madrid and Barcelona expected to witness the largest protests. Spaniards are scheduled to go to the polls on November 29 to participate in the parliamentary elections.

Pepe Alvarez, president of the General Confederation of Workers, one of the largest labor unions in Spain, said that the strike was a success, noting “widespread” participation in it, while Unai Sordo, from the Workers’ Committees Union, said that the participation rate was “very large.”

On the other hand, the Spanish Federation of Business Organizations said that participation in the strike was “weak and uneven,” according to the regions and sectors concerned.

The capital, Madrid, and the Catalonia region in northeastern Spain, two of the most prominent industrial centers in the country, witnessed some of the largest unrest on Wednesday, as traffic stopped on a number of main roads.

The Ministry of Interior said that dozens of people were arrested in connection with separate incidents, while Spanish media reports reported that real estate agency offices were attacked.

The strike came in the wake of widespread protests over the difficulty of obtaining affordable housing and the high cost of living, after the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from an apartment in Madrid where she had lived for seven decades. Abascal died in hospital weeks after her evacuation.

Rental prices in the capital have risen sharply in recent years. According to the property portal Idealista, the average monthly rent for a 50 square meter apartment in Madrid was about 1,170 euros in October, while the average gross monthly salary in Spain is about 2,460 euros (£2,056).

This is equivalent to about half of the average gross salary, a percentage that far exceeds the 30 percent level that housing experts and public institutions often recommend as a standard for housing affordability.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called early elections last month, after parliament failed to approve his plan to reform the housing sector.

Spain has not witnessed general strikes since 2012, when the country was under the rule of the conservative government headed by Mariano Rajoy.

While previous strikes presented a challenge to the governments in power, this strike is different, as Sanchez and his ministers encouraged workers to stop working and demand affordable housing.

"Your eight-hour workday. Your pensions. Your public health care... these are gains made possible by collective action," Sanchez wrote on social media, praising participants in previous strikes.

On the other hand, the conservative People's Party accused the government of trying to exploit the strike to achieve electoral gains.

The leader of the People's Party, Alberto Núñez Viejo, described the general strike as "nonsense", describing the trade unions as "mafia" and "scum".

Viejo's party is leading in opinion polls, while the party's spokesman, Miguel Tiado, accused the government of exploiting the strike to warn voters against allowing the formation of a right-wing government, which is the scenario that seems most likely after the November 29 elections.

“The real nonsense is questioning the right of workers to strike,” Sanchez told Spanish television this week.

Among the participants in the general strike was Gonzalo Alvarez, 27 years old, who was moving between the strikers’ sit-in sites in central Madrid.

Although he works in sales, he volunteers in a housing union that seeks to protect tenants and educate them about their rights.

Alvarez told the BBC that Maricarmen Abascal's eviction from her home at the end of September was the "little spark" that ignited these protests.

Alvarez knew the 87-year-old, who faced a tripling of her rent at the hands of the new owners, and says he felt very upset about the way she was treated.

Alvarez rents a small one-bedroom apartment with his girlfriend, who works as a dental hygienist, in the Arganzuela neighborhood, south of Madrid. The two pay a joint monthly rent of one thousand euros, which means that each of them spends about half of his salary on housing, even before other bills are taken into account.

“It's absolutely crazy... with the costs of food, electricity, water and gas,” he says.

Alvarez sees no way to own a home, saying: "You have to accumulate a huge amount of money to be able to buy a house. So, with these salaries, it becomes impossible."

On the other hand, Miguel Garrido, Vice President of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations, the largest union of employers in Spain, criticized the strike, considering that companies have little to do with housing prices.