Spanish housing activists protest across 50 cities after Congress rejects rental decree-laws

Nationwide mobilizations

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered across more than 50 Spanish cities on 3 October to demand structural solutions to rising rents, evictions, and housing costs. The protests, coordinated by tenant unions including the Sindicato de Inquilinas and Sindicat de Llogateres, followed the parliamentary defeat of two executive housing decrees in Madrid. In the capital, crowds filled Gran Vía behind banners reading "Towards a general strike" and "Houses for living, not for speculating." Similar mobilizations took place in Valencia, where scuffles occurred between police and protesters heading toward the Valencia Real Estate Summit 2026, as well as in Vitoria, Zamora, Cádiz, and Palma, where Congress President Francina Armengol attended the local gathering. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez evaluated public reaction during the demonstrations while weighing whether to bring forward the general election.

Origins and encampment movement

The nationwide action built upon a week of escalating street activity triggered on 23 September by the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her home of 71 years in Madrid's Retiro district. Following a march of 25,000 to 300,000 people on 26 September, activists established an indefinite camp at Madrid's Puerta del Sol. By the morning of 3 October, despite rain, the Sol encampment expanded into Calle Preciados and Calle Arenal. Similar camps appeared in other regional centers, including Plaza del Obradoiro in Santiago de Compostela and Plaza de España in Zaragoza. In Zaragoza, campers dismantled 130 tents at 15:00 on Saturday to regroup for an evening march starting from Plaza Santo Domingo. Sindicato de Inquilinas spokesperson Paula Ríos outlined the movement's objectives before the camp decamped.

We have to show that we are fed up, that we are thousands and that we want to end the housing business.

Rejection of decrees in parliament

The demonstrations intensified after the Congress of Deputies rejected two royal decree-laws on housing on 2 October. The measures, approved by the Council of Ministers on the preceding Tuesday, proposed a ban on evictions of vulnerable tenants and the automatic extension of residential leases expiring within the year. The legislation failed to pass when the People's Party, Vox, and Junts per Catalunya voted against it. Tenant organizations criticized the rejected texts as inadequate compromises that offered tax concessions to landlords rather than structural reform. In Santiago de Compostela, where Galician politicians including Ana Pontón, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, and Néstor Rego joined the rally, camp spokesperson Eirena Souto addressed the outcome.

We have to continue fighting for decent housing, for universal housing, for free and quality housing. The decrees that were negotiated and finally not accepted, we are clear that they are absolutely insufficient. They are nothing more than patches on a system that suffocates us day by day, more and more. They are insufficient measures and for that very reason we will continue fighting with a broader horizon.

Protests in the Canary Islands

In the Canary Islands, more than 50 citizen collectives mobilized in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and Puerto del Rosario. In Las Palmas, attendance rose from nearly 2,000 at the Plaza de la Feria gathering to almost 10,000 people marching along Luis Doreste Silva toward the regional government headquarters. Protesters staged a symbolic sit-in, holding up household keys and chanting that the regional executive acts like a real estate agency. Island organizers argued that the regional government had blocked the application of the national housing law for three years, leaving local markets vulnerable to speculation regardless of parliamentary debates in Madrid.