More than 3 million take to the streets in Spain as housing protests turns ugly

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More than 3 million took to the streets of Spain on Wednesday as part of a mostly peaceful general strike protesting against a growing housing crisis, unions said, though 115 people were arrested, mainly during evening clashes in Barcelona and Madrid.

Workers endured stormy weather to set ⁠up picket lines, with large marches in Madrid, Barcelona and other cities across Spain less than three weeks before a snap general election.

In the evening, clashes between police and some protesters erupted in Barcelona.

Tensions also rose in Madrid, when riot police used foam bullets, tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters around the central Plaza de España.

Police forces reported at least 115 arrests nationwide from incidents linked to the general strike, including blockades of offices and industrial estates.

Sumar, the Socialist government’s junior coalition partner, called on Thursday for Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska ⁠to resign over what it described as an “excessive and disproportionate” response by police.

Amnesty International said it ​had ⁠documented excessive use of police force including blows with batons on peaceful protesters and indiscriminate use of pepper spray on crowds.

Grande-Marlaska on Thursday ordered investigations into the incidents, the Interior Ministry said.

It was the first general strike since workers downed tools in 2012 against austerity measures during the euro zone debt crisis. The Tenants Union said more than ⁠3 million people, including unionised workers as well as students, pensioners, tenants, the self-employed and jobless, took part in demonstrations to protest against rising rents and evictions.

A strike by Spanish ​women in 2018 drew ⁠5 million people, according to unions.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hopes to harness ‌voter resentment over housing in the November 29 election to shift the attention away from a deadly migration rush into Ceuta and a train crash last month. His government has defended its handling of the disasters but so far, his Socialist Party still trails in opinion polls.

Unions described the strike as a success even though participation was uneven across Spain, with the strongest support in ‌coastal regions where housing pressures have been particularly acute.

On Madrid’s Gran Via, one of the capital’s main ‌shopping streets, protesters cheered as stores including Primark, H&M and Pull&Bear brought down their shutters amid a heavy riot police presence.

“We’re going to close the Mango store,” the protesters chanted as they jangled sets of house keys above their heads.

Spain has a deficit of about 750,000 homes, which is set to grow to more than a million by 2028, according to the central bank.

With fewer people able to afford a home, renting has increased sharply, putting pressure on that market. The average rental price of €1,176 ($1,315) ⁠is equivalent to about 98.7% of a young person’s average monthly salary in Spain, according to the Youth Council of Spain.

“I’m 36 years old and I still can’t move out on my own,” said Madrid resident Jesus Gonzalez, who works in a hospital IT department and supports the strike. “Rents just keep going up, house prices just keep going up, and it’s simply impossible.”

Angela de Miguel, vice president of Spain’s main business lobby CEOE, said the strike was counterproductive because small businesses were also affected by the housing crisis, since shortages of homes made recruitment more challenging.

Speaking on state broadcaster TVE, she said the solution was to build more homes and to lower taxes on construction and the home-buying process.

Two heavy storms, dubbed Charles and Bruna, threatened plans for massive protest marches in the afternoon, with unions suspending demonstrations in the southern port city of Cadiz and other cities in the south.

According to UGT and CCOO, participation in the ‌strike reached 90% at ports and in the automotive sector, with “total stoppages” reported at factories including Volkswagen’s in Navarre and SEAT’s in Barcelona.

Barcelona’s metro ​said no trains would run outside peak commuting hours, while Madrid’s metro said peak-hour usage was down 42% compared with the same period last week.

However, with more people ‌able to work remotely and the increasing weight of services in Spain’s economy, the ⁠impact of the strike is likely to be less pronounced than in previous years, according to Miguel Cardoso, chief economist at BBVA Research. He estimated that the strike could ⁠shave 0.1% to 0.2% off Spain’s annual gross domestic product.

Spain’s fast-growing hospitality and finance industries are less unionised than the public and industrial sectors.

Unions said they would file a criminal complaint against what they described as a “disproportionate” response during a police operation ‌involving tear gas and batons that injured 20 protesters. The ​Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The strike follows weeks of demonstrations ‌provoked by the eviction and subsequent death of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid.

Those protests, ​along with parliament’s rejection last month of government decrees aimed at curbing evictions and limiting rent pressures, prompted Sanchez to call the snap election.

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