Encampments and concentrations related to the housing issue in Spain persist. Valeria Raku, a representative of the association Sindicato das Inquilinas e Inquilinos, stated that they will not end until all desired goals are achieved. She addressed hundreds of people who have occupied the Porta-du-Sol square in Madrid since Saturday.
Protesters and organizing groups reported that they have not yet reviewed the text of the decrees approved by the Council of Ministers today. Furthermore, they believe that the measures already known to them are insufficient and do not meet the demands that prompted thousands of people to take to the streets across Spain last week.
Valeria Raku added that not everyone understands that the goal of these events was merely to get a royal decree passed. This association and others advocating for the right to housing have planned rallies in various cities in the coming days, and reports are coming in about camps with dozens of people in different localities.
According to Sindicato das Inquilinas e Inquilinos, camps were organized in a dozen localities last night, and concentrations are taking place in other places, as happened on Tuesday evening and early morning. The highest activity is concentrated in Madrid, at the Porta-du-Sol square, where hundreds of tents have been set up since Saturday evening, housing several hundred people.
Sindicato das Inquilinas e Inquilinos notes the daily increase in the number of people and tents. Last night, over a thousand camps were set up in Porta-du-Sol. Protests against the housing crisis took place throughout last week in various Spanish cities, with Madrid holding particular significance after the police evicted Macarcom Abascal, an 87-year-old woman who had lived in this apartment in the Spanish capital since 1956, last Wednesday.
Under pressure from the protests, the Spanish government approved a package of housing measures today and called on parties to ratify them in an extraordinary plenary session scheduled for Friday, which will allow the decrees to come into effect.
Five ministers strongly urged maintaining the popular mobilization that brought thousands of people to the streets. The Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, stated during a press conference in Madrid, following the Council of Ministers meeting, which approved a series of emergency housing measures today, that Congress has the opportunity on Friday to tell Macarcom that her suffering was worth it.
These measures include introducing additional restrictions on evictions, which will be in effect until 2030, as well as a ban on real estate purchases by investment funds until 2028. Isabel Rodríguez acknowledged the decisive role of the Macarcom Abascal case in the government's approval of this package of measures, but emphasized that this legislation had been developed by the executive branch for months and required 'political consensus', including a coalition of left-wing parties from the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the Somar platform within the executive branch.
Parallel to the press conference, one of the five Somar ministers stated that they had made some concessions to achieve results in the Council of Ministers today, and called for public pressure to ensure parliamentary approval, where the ruling parties hold the majority. Nevertheless, the Minister of Social Affairs, Pablo Bustinduy, insisted that the decrees are only a 'first step', calling: 'Let us move towards quick approval. It is absolutely necessary for society to realize its strength and rights so that the common interest of the working masses opens the way in Congress.'
It was announced today that Macarcom Abascal accepted the offer made by the apartment owner company and will return to the apartment in central Madrid, where she has lived since 1956.
