Protests Erupt Across Spain After Parliament Rejects Housing Decrees

“We are not leaving, we are staying.” With these words from the Puerta del Sol, protesters in Madrid vowed to maintain an indefinite encampment after the Spanish Congress defeated crucial anti-eviction and rent-extension measures on a Friday evening vote.

The rejection of the housing decrees in Parliament triggered immediate street protests across Spain, drawing thousands of demonstrators to public squares in Madrid and Barcelona. The legislative defeat occurred after Junts, the Popular Party (PP), and Vox combined to vote down the executive’s housing protections, according to regional reporting from ara.cat.

Congress Rejects Housing Decrees as Protesters Occupy Public Squares

The legislative showdown in Madrid centered on emergency housing decrees designed to prevent tenant evictions and extend expiring rental contracts. When the Congress of Deputies voted down the measures, demonstrators who had spent the morning lobbying lawmakers outside the lower chamber quickly redirected their efforts to the city streets. By Friday night, the heart of Madrid’s Puerta del Sol filled with tents, red banners, and crowds chanting anti-fascist slogans and calling for a general strike.

Organizers reported that the Puerta del Sol encampment quickly outgrew its initial footprint. Representatives from the camp’s organizing committees stated that the site reached capacity with approximately 1,800 tents installed, leaving no remaining space for new arrivals. Faced with overwhelming turnout, participants in a mass assembly held around 21:00 on Friday voted to extend the protest indefinitely and considered expanding the footprint toward the nearby Plaza de Callao.

Sindicat de Llogateres Steps Back as Encampment Expands Beyond Original Organizers

While the protest gathered momentum, the Sindicat de Llogateres announced it would scale back its presence at the Puerta del Sol encampment to refocus on grassroots organizing within local neighborhoods. In an Instagram livestream broadcast from the collective’s information stand, spokespersons Valeria Racu and Alícia del Río explained that the movement had outgrown its founding organization.

“We were the motor and the spark, but it has overwhelmed us,” Racu and Del Río told online followers. They noted that the influx of independent participants and various other activist groups meant the encampment now ran on its own autonomous assembly, operating independently of the union’s direct control.

Alternative groups quickly filled the operational vacuum. Representatives from Izquierda Revolucionaria distributed leaflets urging protesters to maintain the Sol encampment until national labor unions formally call a general strike. Shortly before 22:00, a column of thousands of marchers left the plaza for a nighttime protest march toward the Congress building before returning under heavy police monitoring.

Demonstrations Spread Across Barcelona and Other Regional Centers

The legislative defeat of the housing decrees also mobilized protesters in Catalonia. More than a thousand demonstrators gathered in Barcelona on Friday afternoon and evening to demand a general strike and protest the lapse of tenant protections.

Activists temporarily blocked traffic along Avinguda Meridiana. Later at Plaça Catalunya, representatives from housing rights organizations including the Sindicat de Llogateres and the Plataforma d’Afectats per la Hipoteca (PAH) convened an assembly to coordinate weekend mobilization plans.

Statewide Protests and March Routes Scheduled for Saturday

Statewide demonstrations are scheduled to take place across Spain. In Madrid, organizers planned a major march set for 12:00, utilizing four separate departure points from the north, south, east, and west that will converge on Plaza de Cibeles. In the metropolitan area of Barcelona, a separate demonstration is scheduled for 19:00 at Plaça Pius XII in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, fed by marching columns departing from Barcelona and Sabadell.

“Keep the encampment at Sol until the unions call a general strike,” read leaflets distributed by participating organizations as nighttime assemblies continued into the weekend.