The Tenants' Union maintains around 350 tents in Puerta del Sol while awaiting the housing royal decree that the Council of Ministers is expected to approve this Tuesday. The City Council is calling on the Government Delegation to restore normality.
The housing camp initiated by the Tenants' Union of Madrid reaches its third day in the Puerta del Sol with around 600 people and about 350 tents set up in the square, according to lagacetadecanarias.com. The protest began on Saturday night, following a demonstration against the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, an elderly woman who had to leave the home she had lived in for 70 years.
Participants have organised in shifts to ensure a permanent presence and have spent the night without incidents despite the forecasted rain. Organisers have covered the tents with tarpaulins due to the change in weather and have set up a communal kitchen and a logistics centre in the square to distribute water and food. The day includes yoga sessions and musical performances.
It’s tough, but this is growing. Every minute, every hour that passes, we have more tents, more people, more enthusiasm, more hope, and more strength to achieve everything we set out to do,” said the union spokesperson Gonzalo Álvarez.
The protest demands that the royal decree that the Council of Ministers is expected to approve this Tuesday includes indefinite rental contracts and the suspension of evictions when there is no housing alternative. For spokesperson Valeria Racu, the regulation would represent “the first stone to walk” towards ending the “housing business.” In the square, slogans such as “I want a home, not a scam” and “rentiers guilty, governments responsible” are being maintained.
Maricarmen Abascal, hospitalised, has sent her support to the campers with a message: “Fight! Defend what is yours!”
The City Council of Madrid has called on the Government Delegation to restore “as soon as possible” normality in Puerta del Sol and has expressed its “surprise” and “indignation” at the camp, while accusing the Delegation of “allowing this to happen.”
Mobilisations have also spread to Barcelona, where the Tenants' Union of Catalonia has blocked traffic at points such as Córcega Street, Diagonal Avenue, and the surroundings of Sants. The group is planning a larger mobilisation this afternoon, coinciding with Pedro Sánchez’s visit to the city, and is considering a general strike if the decree with their demands is not approved on Tuesday.
The President of the Government has assured that the Executive is working “against the clock” to bring the regulation to the Council of Ministers. During an event in Getafe, Sánchez addressed Maricarmen and urged parliamentary groups to facilitate its ratification: “The Government is working against the clock to bring the royal decree law on housing next Tuesday, and I ask parliamentary groups for one last effort to ensure it is ratified in Parliament.”
The camp continues in Puerta del Sol while awaiting the Council of Ministers meeting this Tuesday, where it will be decided whether the royal decree moves forward with the measures demanded by tenant unions.
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