{"id":639237,"date":"2026-10-07T15:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T15:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/639237\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T15:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T15:56:11","slug":"now-is-the-moment-housing-activists-at-madrid-encampment-pin-wary-hopes-on-spains-early-election-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/639237\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Now is the moment\u2019: housing activists at Madrid encampment pin wary hopes on Spain\u2019s early election | Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a makeshift lunch counter tucked within a maze of tents at a housing protest camp in Madrid, S\u00e9lpide San Luis pointed to the dizzying pace of change. \u201cWe built a city in a week,\u201d said the 26-year-old, whose videos documenting<\/a> day-to-day life at the encampment have attracted tens of thousands of views on social media, as she pointed to the more than 1,200 tents set up in the central Puerta del Sol square.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have urban planning, the streets have names and we\u2019ve put surveillance systems in place. And thanks to what we\u2019re doing here, media have not stopped talking about the issue of housing \u2013 something that we\u2019ve been trying to get on the agenda for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week marked another significant moment for the impromptu movement. After days of protests and encampments that have sprouted up across the country after the eviction from of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal<\/a> from her home, the Socialist prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, announced a snap general election<\/a> in response to rightwing parties torpedoing emergency legislation to tackle the housing crisis.<\/p>\n

People take photos of a statue representing the symbol of Madrid in the middle of the Puerta del Sol encampment. Photograph: Damoen Gpmzanez\/EPA<\/p>\n

Housing campaigners vowed to keep up the pressure. \u201cThe power of the people has ushered in a new era,\u201d said Alicia del R\u00edo, of the Madrid Tenants\u2019 Union, as she floated plans for a general strike in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn election campaign is now beginning that will be deeply shaped by the housing issue. So we ask the members of parliament, are you going to introduce the measures that people are demanding \u2013 ones demanded by the majority of voters<\/a> across all parties \u2013 or are you going to continue to be the lackeys of the rentier economy?\u201d<\/p>\n

The election, which did not have to held until August 2027, is a high-stakes gamble<\/a> for S\u00e1nchez. Polls suggest the most likely outcome will be a rightwing coalition between the People\u2019s party and the far-right, anti-immigration Vox party.<\/p>\n

Alicia del R\u00edo addresses the media in Puerta del Sol square. Photograph: Bernat Armangu\u00e9\/AP<\/p>\n

But as anger seethes over rents that have surged<\/a> 80% in a decade and housing costs that have risen by 63%, the protests also present S\u00e1nchez with an opportunity to keep his leftwing coalition in power.<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing forward the elections is risky. But there\u2019s also a feeling of \u2018now is the moment\u2019,\u201d said Antonio Prieto, 36, as he and other volunteers transformed the steady stream of food donations into lunch for those at the Madrid camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had waited until 2027, the right and far right would have crushed us. And now, at least with this momentum, putting the focus on housing, we can have a tiny bit of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Left to right: Antonio Prieto, Jorge Rubio and Se\u0301lpide San Luis at the Madrid housing protest camp lunch counter. Photograph: Ashifa Kassam\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Prieto is among the many closely watching the parties to the left of the Socialists, hoping they will unite to form a broad front<\/a> before the election. \u201cI\u2019m hopeful that what we\u2019re doing has really got through, so that parties on the left realise that this is a big issue and they start working on real solutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The eviction of Abascal, a wheelchair user who was carried from the home she had lived in for more than seven decades on a stretcher, catapulted the long-simmering frustration over the deepening housing crisis<\/a> into public view. It cast a spotlight on the intense competition for housing across Spain, one that pits local people against tourists lets, investment funds and short-term rentals.<\/p>\n

Maricarmen Abascal is transported to an ambulance after her eviction from her Madrid home Photograph: Susana Vera\/Reuters<\/p>\n

As a wave of outrage swept the country, the investment firm that bought Abascal\u2019s home said she could return home without paying<\/a> the 230% rent hike it had reportedly demanded. But the protests and encampments have continued to gain strength as people demand change.<\/p>\n

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Prieto described them as a \u201cmoral duty\u201d, given that the Spanish constitution recognises the right<\/a> to \u201cdecent and adequate housing\u201d for all. \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is a systematic violation of the constitution \u2026 So we have to be here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The growing tent city has had visitors too \u2013 some to snap photos, others to ask questions and some to provoke. But the vast majority express their support, said Juan V\u00e1zquez, of the Housing Union of Carabanchel, a district in the south of Madrid.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople of all ages have stopped by to wish us strength, bring us water and food, and tell us to keep going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

People hold a banner reading \u2018end profiteering from housing\u2019 at a protest in Barcelona. Photograph: Nacho Doce\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The challenge now is to translate the groundswell of support into concrete change. \u201cOn the one hand we have a right wing that pursues policies of misery and directly attacks the working class,\u201d V\u00e1zquez said. \u201cBut on the other hand, S\u00e1nchez and his government have not gone after the profits that speculative rentiers make from our misery.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described the coming weeks, as people across Spain<\/a> prepare to vote, as crucial. \u201cBasically, what we want is to channel all this energy so that it doesn\u2019t just remain a footnote in a week-long encampment \u2013 to organise, apply pressure and secure our rights. We know that the organisation of the working class is the only means of looking after our interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jorge Rubio, 27, said the scale of the protests had hopefully made it clear to everyone just what was at stake. \u201cIf you don\u2019t vote, the impact could be huge. You could end up without a place to live,\u201d he said, citing rooms for rent that had surged from \u20ac180 to \u20ac700 (\u00a3150 to \u00a3600) a month in six years. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy. It\u2019s not viable. We\u2019re all affected by this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He was among the many hoping the movement would go further. \u201cHousing is not just a problem here, it\u2019s a European problem. The revolution needs to reach them too.\u201d<\/p>\n