Protesters surround Congress in protest of the housing crisis

As planned and with union punctuality, at 11 in the morning hundreds of people tried to surround Congress, but they were barely able to close half of the Carrera de San Jerónimo. At that same time, a crucial session began inside to support, or not, two royal decrees on housing. The National Police, however, had drawn a spectacular perimeter that eliminates the possibility of any shout reaching their lordships.

For hours before, hundreds of young people had repeated on the floor of Sol the same ritual of the last six days: stretching under the chiming clock, collecting blankets and clothes, sweeping the cement, lining up for breakfast and beginning to prepare for an intense day. Among the stores this Friday there was a little more comfort than in previous days: thermos bottles, mats or garden chairs and, in general, few screens. The conversation in the camp wins over social networks and the news of the day spreads by word of mouth: possible elections.

However, the fact that Pedro Sánchez can call the polls in November does not seem to generate much commotion nor does what is being debated in Congress, which leaves the feeling of attending a match already played where the vote has already been resolved.

However, a renewed spirit runs through the group that shouts intensely: “Rentiers out of our neighborhoods”, “Fight is the only way” or “Madrid will be the tomb of rentierism”. Yesterday the same voices beat the pots and pans in front of City Hall to the point of exhaustion for an hour.

A bittersweet feeling runs through the protest. On the one hand, the feeling of defeat caused by a vote and, on the other, the victory produced by having placed housing at the center of the public debate. “All these perroflautas that you see here have managed to seat the deputies in a few days,” says Jorge Morán, Chemistry student. The possible electoral call has ended up altering the debate.

This Friday, the Police cut off the main access to Congress and the group shouts about 190 meters from the plenary hall. Among the protesters there is no special interest in listening to what is happening inside. Only some, like Bernardo Brus, professor of Sociology, follow what happens inside with a helmet. Brus has just heard Oskar Matute pronounce terms like “emergency situation”, “housing crisis” or “angry”. "This is what we are saying. It is not that difficult to understand," he says about the Bildu deputy's intervention. Olga González, 51, believes that this social mobilization opens “a window of opportunity” for political parties, although “the electoral calculation is complicated,” she says. Regarding his plans for this Friday, he explains that he will be “here” and then he will go up to Sol, where his son and other students have a tent. “I'm going to keep an eye on him and see that he's okay,” he says. “I'm going to be between one place and another.”

More than what happens in Congress, the group pays more attention to what comes out of the megaphone and the assemblies coordinated by the Student Union, waiting for instructions and which, they say, will announce that they are still in the fight, but that they will rise from Sol.

Among the many voices that hover over the protest, groups such as Izquierda Revolucionaria and students pressure the Tenants' Union for a vote that leads to a general strike. Its activists distribute a leaflet in which they insist on their call for a general strike. “It is time to extend and expand the mobilization,” they write.

The shouts in front of Congress are the penultimate act of an intense mobilization that lasts nine days and that chained effects. It began on Wednesday, September 23, with the eviction of Maricarmen. It continued on Thursday with hundreds of people shouting against Ayuso in front of the penthouse of the Community of Madrid. On Friday Maricarmen sent her first video from the hospital after critical hours. On Saturday thousands of people took to the streets to protest the housing crisis and that same night the first tents emerged in Sol that last until today.

Carlota Negrete, 56, says that they do not know if there will be an early election, but maintains that, whether there are elections or not, no subsequent government will defend the interests of the working class. “He is going to continue defending the interests of rentiers and bourgeoisie,” he says. Regarding where they will continue what happens with the decrees, he points out that they will remain before Congress: "For now we are going to stay here. We want to point out the inability of the Government to carry out these decrees."