"What's wrong, what's wrong? We don't have a house", "it's not a cool apartment, it's a fucking dungeon", "guilty renter, responsible government".
Called by the Tenants' Unions in Madrid and 53 other cities in Spain over the weekend, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets to demand a radical transformation of the housing model: "Indefinite contracts, lower rents, expropriation to vulture funds and an end to all evictions." To achieve this, they ask that a general strike be organized "immediately" to stop the country.
The demonstrations, which have taken place peacefully except in Valencia, where there have been police charges at the end of the protest, come a day after the Congress of Deputies overturned the two housing decrees presented by the Government and in the midst of increased pressure for Pedro Sánchez to advance the general elections.
Sandra, 30 years old, who still lives with her parents like her brother, 27. José Luis, 76, a former ministry official and with the housing problem solved years ago, who comes for his three children, all of them homeless. Or Gonzalo, who lives in the Pacific area with his wife and two small children and pays 1,800 euros in rent.
Some 70,000 people according to the Government delegation - 500,000 according to the protesters - have protested this Saturday, October 3, in Madrid, divided into four columns (Atocha, Plaza de España, Glorieta de Emilio Castelar and Hospital Princesa) that started at 12:00 p.m. and gathered around 2:00 p.m. and converged on the Plaza de Cibeles.
The numbers from the previous Saturday in Madrid, called under the slogan "Not one more Maricarmen" after the eviction of the 87-year-old woman who started the mobilizations, serve as an example of the size of the call: 25,000 according to the Delegation and 300,000 according to the attendees.
The data, in any case, is far from historic demonstrations such as the 8M of 2028 and 2019 (170,00 and 375,000 according to the Government Delegation) and the White Tides for Public Health of November 2022 (200,000) and February 2023 (250,000).
"We are here because it is a just cause. We have been through everything at this point in life. We have had money, we have been ruined. We have rented apartments precisely and now we are tenants of a man who is contrary to my ideas but who rents to us at a price we could pay. This is not about ideology, it is about personal decency," said José Luis (82 years old) and Carmen (80), who pay 1,100 euros for an apartment in the Argüelles neighborhood.
The retired couple followed the march that left Plaza de España behind the banner "Towards the general strike", the motto under which all the demonstrations have taken place.
"We have done more than the government for housing. There is no turning back. We have achieved a historic union victory that seemed impossible," said Alicia del Río, one of the spokespersons for the Tenants' Union, at the end of the march in Madrid, in which the absence of communist or Marxist flags, as had been seen in the Sol camp, drew attention.
"We have managed to get a progressive government that in eight years had not done anything for housing to include a decree for housing, demonstrating that the popular power works harder and better than those who sit in Congress," added the Union spokesperson while the protesters shouted "general strike, general strike!" and they consulted on their cell phones if a strike could be called without work motivation.
Not far away, in a corner of the square, in front of the Army Headquarters, a particularly shocking sight occurred given the reason for the protest: a person completely wrapped in a blanket was sleeping on a bench. Those who descended towards Cibeles on the column in Plaza de España could not help but turn their heads to the left.
As it could not be otherwise, many young people attended the demonstrations, especially affected by the difficulties they suffer in accessing housing. Like Ana, a 29-year-old from Malaga and a resident of the Madrid neighborhood of Delicias, who pays 1,400 euros for a two-bedroom apartment: "Since I arrived in Madrid I have practically gone to one apartment per year. I have tried to get them all in the same area but this way there is no way to put down roots or have a life project with my partner."
"The president is going to hold the elections at the time that best suits him," said José Luis, 76, about the possibility of Pedro Sánchez bringing forward the general elections and thus being able to channel the discontent of the protesters with the parties that have overturned the two decrees approved by the Council of Ministers.
"If you are analyzing that it is a good time because you think that left-wing voters are going to join the PSOE, you are wrong. It is going to benefit the left that is to the left of the PSOE, which at the moment is disorganized," adds José Luis, who identifies himself as a left-wing voter without specifying more. "And I think that these social movements must be listened to. I think that the PP has not read the current moment well and has made the mistake of not approving the decrees."
Altercations in Valencia
Thousands of protesters have responded to the call of the Tenants' Union in Valencia, which has ended with altercations. At 11:00 a.m. they were gathered at the Porta de La Mar and walked the 600 meters that separate that point of the city from the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, where the real estate investment congress Real Estate Summit 2026 is being held, with leading figures in the sector such as Toni Nadal, Albert Rivera and Juan Ramón Rallo.
