Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez faces potential early elections after tens of thousands of demonstrators protested across Spain on Saturday following parliament’s rejection of emergency housing decrees.
Spain’s housing affordability crisis boiled over on Saturday as tens of thousands of citizens took to the streets in Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona, and roughly 50 other cities. Demonstrators marched to demand immediate political intervention against soaring costs and insecure tenancies following the defeat of government measures in parliament just days prior.
Official figures from the government in Madrid placed turnout in the capital at 70,000 participants, while organizers claimed up to 500,000 people attended the central demonstration.
Protesters filled public spaces and carried home-made signs. In Madrid, crowds gathered along Gran Vía and converged on the historic Puerta del Sol plaza, where an active encampment had operated for days. Banners in the crowd declared slogans such as Your profits, our misery
as participants shook apartment keys.
Parliament Rejects Emergency Decrees
The mass protests erupted immediately after the Spanish parliament voted down two emergency decrees proposed by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s minority left-wing coalition government. The package was designed to quell mounting public anger by implementing strict protections for vulnerable renters including a ban on evictions until 2030, a two-year extension on expiring rental leases, restrictions on tourist apartments, and automatic contract renewals.
Ahead of the ballot, Sánchez urged lawmakers to look beyond partisan interests and support the initiative.
What is behind these decrees is the desire to instill order and a sense of humanity in a market that if we do not rein it in will destroy our society.
Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain
Despite these appeals, opposition parties defeated both measures on Friday. Lawmakers rejected the first decree by 178 votes to 172 and voted down the second by 184 to 166 after the conservative People’s Party (PP) and far-right Vox joined forces with the Catalan pro-independence party Junts. The People’s Party defended its opposition by arguing that building new homes rather than regulating existing markets offered the proper solution.
Eviction of Maricarmen Abascal Sparks Outrage
Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old wheelchair user who had lived in her apartment for 70 years, was forcibly removed from her home and taken to the hospital on a stretcher after an international investment fund purchased the building and demanded a 230% rent increase. That late-September eviction served as the immediate catalyst for the nationwide mobilization in Madrid.
Housing activists from more than 20 countries across Europe converged on her building to protest, turning her plight into an international symbol of housing insecurity and displacement. Following intense public outcry and political pressure, the investment company eventually reversed its decision, allowing Abascal to return to her home.
Real estate costs across Spain have risen sharply over the past decade. National statistics agency INE reported that house prices climbed 12.2% in the second quarter of 2026, while Idealista figures showed rental costs rose 8.5% in 2025. Madrid and Barcelona remain the most expensive rental markets in the country, with average prices reaching €22 and €23.80 per square metre respectively.
Clashes Break Out in Valencia and Madrid
Roughly 30 protesters forced their way into the City of Arts and Sciences cultural complex before being ejected, prompting police to deploy tear gas and rubber bullets after roughly 30 protesters forced their way into the complex in Valencia. While the vast majority of Saturday’s demonstrations across Spain proceeded peacefully, unrest broke out in several locations.
Police arrested at least three individuals in Madrid after members of a far-right faction attempted to breach the demonstrators’ camp in Puerta del Sol while performing Nazi salutes.
Opposition Urges Snap Elections
Prime Minister Sánchez could call a snap election ahead of the scheduled end of the legislative term next summer or as early as November following the legislative defeat and ensuing protests. Spanish media reports indicated the government was closely monitoring the turnout at Saturday’s rallies before making a final decision, though Sánchez’s office declined to comment on the reports while opposition figures such as Vox leader Santiago Abascal publicly urged immediate elections.
Valeria Racu, a spokesperson for the Tenants’ Union, told reporters in Madrid that a general strike would be organized following formal discussions with labor unions.
It only proves that it is us the people who have to adapt to the political parties, and not the politicians to what the people want, and this can’t go on like that.
Nando de Angulo, demonstrator in Madrid
