Tens of thousands of people are marching through the center of Madrid from Puerta del Sol to Congress to protest the housing crisis and against evictions. With the shouts of "Rentistas get out of the neighborhoods", "We are going to be left homeless" and "Rentistas guilty, responsible government", the attendees launch criticism at the administration of Isabel Díaz Ayuso and the central government. Attendees ask for protective measures for tenants, which include the "automatic renewal of rental contracts, anti-fraud measures and that evictions not be carried out without a housing alternative." The header arrived at the Congress of Deputies after 8:30 p.m. under the slogan "Not one more Maricarmen." There, the spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants' Union Valeria Racu stated during the reading of the manifesto that "there are people camped in Sol", the square where the 15-M protests began and where there was also a camp that lasted almost a month. The case of Maricarmen, the 87-year-old woman evicted from her home on Wednesday, has caused a social and political upheaval that has pushed the Government to accelerate negotiations for the housing decree and has led tenants in cities across Spain to resume protests in the streets.
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The Country
Protesters begin to set up tents in Sol
A portion of the protesters who have participated in the protest over the housing crisis have returned to Sol to camp in the square. So far there is one union tent and about 13 tents, but they are setting up more.
The Country
Waves of protesters arrive along Carretas Street to Puerta del Sol
By Ana María Bosch
Waves of protesters flock along Calle de Carretas and Calle de Alcalá to Puerta del Sol. While listening to "I help home, we don't have a home" or "Shame on me to be a police officer." Four milkmaids from the National Police arrive and two helicopters fly over the area.
The Country
Demonstrators leave Congress behind after organizers ask to go to Sol
By Ana María Bosch
Thousands of protesters have left Congress behind along Paseo del Prado towards Lope de Vega Street singing: "Nazis by day, police at night", "Long live the class struggle", "We cannot make peace, this is class struggle". The spokesperson for the Tenants' Union stated after reading the manifesto: "We all call off Sol."
The Country
The Union calls on its social networks to join the camping in Sol
The Tenants Union has made a call on its social networks to join the camp that has begun in Sol, as announced by spokesperson Valeria Racu during the manifesto. "Camping in Sol for the right to housing. We can't take it anymore. Either rentierism falls, or the government falls. Everyone to Sol!", the union has published.
The Country
The Tenants Union affirms during the reading of the manifesto that some people have camped in Puerta del Sol
The spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants' Union Valeria Racu stated during the reading of the manifesto that "there are people camped in Sol", the square where the 15-M protests began and where there was also a camp that lasted almost a month.
During his speech, Racu pointed out "the culprits" of the rental crisis, and mentioned Almeida, Ayuso, investment funds and rentiers "who prefer to evict people." "We have to include everyone who decides to get on the rentier bandwagon," he stated, and at that moment there was so much applause that he could no longer be heard over the loudspeaker.
"We have to make being a rentier shameful."
The Country
The Government Delegation estimates that 25,000 attended the demonstration for housing
The Government Delegation in Madrid has quantified 25,000 people who are demonstrating in the capital at 8:45 p.m., called by the Tenants' Union against evictions and the housing crisis. The organizers raise that figure to 250,000.
The Country
The head of the demonstration reaches Congress, where the Tenants Union reads the manifesto
The leader of the massive demonstration against the housing crisis and evictions has arrived at the doors of Congress after 8:30 p.m., around two hours after leaving from Puerta del Sol. There, the Tenants' Union is reading the manifesto.
The Country
The housing situation also worries the youngest: "The future is quite bleak if this continues"
By Israel Aguilar Esquivel
Ainara Rueda and Aroa Bravo are two 17-year-old university students who are worried about the present and the future of housing: "We are as worried about the future as we are about the present of the housing situation, about the economic situation of our families. It shouldn't be such a big problem to be able to make ends meet, live in such a small house and that a working-class family must work all their lives. The future, the truth is, is quite dark if this continues like this," Bravo declares.
Rueda celebrates that so many people have come, but believes that more people should come, especially of his age. "Unfortunately, the rise of the extreme right is reaching young people. It is worrying that young people are in favor of it, but there are also many people who open their eyes," he says.
The Country
Neighbors at risk of being evicted attend the demonstration: "If we don't pay 350,000 euros we will be left homeless"
By Israel Aguilar Esquivel
Vanessa García is a 42-year-old neighbor who has come from Pinto to demonstrate. She has come with a group of dissatisfied neighbors because, she says, they run "the same risk as Maricarmen and David", who were evicted on the same day: "A vulture fund entered our community. If we do not pay 350,000 euros for the apartment, when we finish the rental contract in 2031 we will be left without a home," says Vanessa angrily.
She is convinced that this demonstration can mark a before and after and refers to people's discontent with the housing situation. "On the same day (of the evictions) everyone met and three days later we are here. I mean, this has to stop. We are already tired. We must prohibit vulture funds," he says.
The Country
The head of the demonstration advances along Alcalá Street
By Israel Aguilar Esquivel
An hour after the start of the demonstration, the leading group continues along Alcalá Street. There are still people who have not yet left Puerta del Sol. Neighborhood groups, families, friends, young people make the longest street in Madrid resonate with the cries of "Here are the anti-rentistas" and "Ayuso's attic for Maricarmen." When the voices get tired, people wave their keys in the air.
The Country
Marta Ortega (26 years old), one of the attendees, describes the housing problem as "unsustainable"
By Ana María Bosch
Young people fed up with rent increases, speculation and evictions have taken to the streets to demand a solution. Marta Ortega is a 26-year-old teacher from Madrid who came because she considers that the housing problem is "unsustainable" and the situation "can't go any further." It seems crucial to him to "go out into the streets, make noise and protest to change this." He had to move to Moratalaz to live because he was born and lived in La Latina, but "now the neighborhood has been made by and for tourists."
"Living there is impossible now. My mother's neighbors are tourists and the people in the neighborhood have had to leave because it is unbearable," he describes. He believes that we cannot fall into a state of defeatism and think that we are not going to be of any use because otherwise "they are going to eat our bread." Furthermore, he considers that the turning point was learning almost at the same time about Maricarmen's eviction and the news of the purchase for 6.3 million euros of the penthouse of the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. For her, knowing the information at the same time set off alarm bells.
The Country
Irene Montero, from the demonstration: "The housing business has to end. The streets have to continue overflowing"
Podemos MEP Irene Montero has been blunt when speaking about the housing crisis since the Madrid demonstration: "The message today is very clear: the housing business has to end. Sales for speculation must be prohibited, we need to expropriate the 650,000 homes that are in the hands of vulture funds and we need to lower the rental price by law," she stated. "The streets have to continue overflowing and talking. This way the rentiers are going to lose," he encouraged.
Montero has shown "concern" about the Government's negotiation with Junts on the royal housing decree. "We think that he is doing it to make a mess for all the people who are here today defending the right to housing and we are not going to accept it. This time the trick has to be for the rentiers and the speculators," he defended.
The Country
Thousands of people at Puerta del Sol begin to march towards Cibeles
By Antonio Jiménez Barca and Israel Aguilar Esquivel
The march against evictions starts in the direction of Cibeles. There are cries against Isabel Díaz Ayuso and against José Luis Martínez Almeida, but also against the Government of Pedro Sánchez. Some protesters, at the head of the march, hold up signs with photos of the owners of Urbagestion, the real estate company that put Maricarmen Abascal on the street. Another of the most chanted cries is "renters get out of our neighborhoods" and "vultures get out of our neighborhoods"
The protesters started walking from Puerta del Sol around 6:45 p.m., also shouting slogans such as: "Let them come see it, let them come see it. This is not a government, it is the rentiers in power", "Here are the anti-rentistas" and "We need a rent strike now. We need a general strike now." A van leads the group haranguing the attendees.
The Country
One of the attendees points to "vulture funds and politicians" as responsible for the "shameful housing situation"
By Ana María Bosch
Carmen Fuentes, a 56-year-old resident of Vicálvaro, attended the demonstration called in Puerta del Sol because "the situation with housing is shameful." He criticizes "the abusive rental prices" that are maintained "with the approval of politicians."
The woman has blamed "vulture funds" and the political parties that support them. "In Vicálvaro, Mr. Almeida has sold the land and now there is a vulture fund kicking people out of their homes," he explained. Fuentes recalled that "we can all be Maricamen." In the background, the protesters sing: "Mrs. Ayuso, find out, if I don't have a house, I will occupy it for you."
The Country
Demonstration begins in protest of the housing crisis
By Israel Aguilar Esquivel
Nearly a thousand people occupy Puerta del Sol at the start of the demonstration. The front of the group has been located on Alcalá Street and has extended towards the statue of the bear and the strawberry tree. With cries of "Shame, shame!" and "Guilty renters, responsible government" attendees criticize the administration of Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
The Country
The Tenants Union demands before the demonstration that the 'Maricarmen decree' be approved on Tuesday in the Council of Ministers
By Ana María Bosch
Before the start of the demonstration, the spokesperson for the Tenants' Union, Alicia del Río, demanded that this Tuesday the Council of Ministers approve the 'Maricarmen decree' against evictions. Otherwise, in his words, the Government "that calls itself progressive makes no sense." The project, which has been presented to all parliamentary forces, calls for the creation of indefinite contracts, the freezing of rental prices and the regulation of vacation rentals, among others.
Furthermore, Del Río has considered that Maricarmen's eviction has been a "turning point." "It is a point of no return. We are not going to tolerate it happening again," he concluded.
Del Río has charged against the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, "who laughs by setting up real estate fairs for speculators and spending public money on luxury penthouses." "It has turned this region into a paradise of speculation." He has also criticized the central government, "which with its inaction and by using Maricarmen's pain in its partisan campaign against the PP has proven to be useless." "Housing should be a right and not a business."
The spokesperson concluded by making a "call to all cities to continue fighting in the streets." "So that this turning point is the beginning of the conquest of the right to housing in our country."
The Country
The Tenants Union finalizes preparations for the demonstration in Sol
By Israel Aguilar Esquivel
One hour before the demonstration begins, a group of about 40 people from the Madrid Tenants' Union finalizes preparations for the protest, placing a banner at the beginning of the route that reads "Not one more Maricarmen," the march's motto. Several tourists stop to observe the group wearing orange vests and t-shirts. Meanwhile, four milkmaids from the National Police are in front of the building of the Presidency of the Community of Madrid.
The Country
RENTAL HOUSING
The slow agony of rental housing in Spain: What went wrong?
Sandra López Letón
Renting is no longer an option for a part of the population. In addition to being dramatic, the fact is paradoxical because for years governments and experts defended the need to promote renting over purchasing. "The economic, social and labor advantages that renting offers are innumerable. Among others, it facilitates
