Mass protests in Spain demand affordable housing

On Wednesday, November 11, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in several Spanish cities at the end of a general strike to protest the rising cost of living and the shortage of affordable housing.

According to the authorities, 120,000 people joined the protests in Madrid. The tenants’ unions that called the protests put the turnout at 600,000. In Barcelona, police estimated that 55,000 people took to the streets.

The day-long general strike, the country’s first in 14 years, took place just two and a half weeks before Spain’s parliamentary elections, the German news agency dpa reported.

According to dpa, the demonstrations on the evening of November 11 were mostly peaceful. In Barcelona, however, riots broke out after the protests had ended. A group of masked right-wing extremists smashed the windows of several shops, set garbage bins on fire and began throwing bottles, stones and firecrackers at police officers, the TV channel RTVE reported. Police used batons against the attackers.