Tens of thousands take to Madrid streets demanding housing action

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Madrid on Saturday demanding affordable housing and stronger protections for renters. Demonstrators carried banners, chanted and rattled their house keys as some called for a general strike over housing. The protest came a day after lawmakers rejected emergency measures aimed at addressing Spain’s housing affordability crisis.

Public anger has intensified following the eviction of 87-year-old María del Carmen Abascal from her Madrid home last month, which sparked protests and an encampment in the capital’s Puerta del Sol.