Spanish police fire rubber bullets as housing march targets Valencia property summit

Clashes outside the property summit

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in central Valencia on Saturday morning to protest against property speculation, rising rental prices, and tenant evictions. The march commenced at 11:00 from Porta de la Mar and proceeded along the 600-meter route toward the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. Protesters reached the cultural complex while shaking metal key rings, throwing objects and smoke canisters, and chanting slogans against property investors and law enforcement. Inside the venue, industry figures and invited speakers, including Albert Rivera, Toni Nadal, and economist Juan Ramon Rallo, were participating in the Valencia Real Estate Summit 2026. The confrontation intensified when demonstrators pulled down metal barriers, broke the police cordon, and entered the outer facilities of the complex.

Police deployment and tactical response

National Police riot units deployed immediately to halt the entry into the City of Arts and Sciences grounds. Officers struck demonstrators in the front rows with batons and fired rubber bullets into the air and toward the crowd to reclaim the perimeter. The firing of tear gas canisters generated dense plumes of smoke across the venue surroundings, causing hundreds of attendees to scatter. After police re-established the outer security line, a second group attempted to force their way into the premises, prompting officers to stage another round of dispersal charges. Demonstrators positioned outside continued to shout slogans against police conduct while applauding activists who were removed from inside the building.

Rejection of parliamentary housing decrees

The mobilization was organized jointly by four housing advocacy groups: Sindicat de Llogateres, Sindicat d'Habitatge de Valencia, the Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (PAH), and the neighborhood assembly collective Entrebarris. Outrage among housing activists increased following a vote in the Spanish Congress of Deputies on Friday, 2 October 2026, where lawmakers defeated two government housing decrees. Deputies from the People's Party, Vox, Junts, and the Navarrese People's Union (UPN) united to vote down the legislative proposals. Union leaders described the defeated measures as an absolute minimum for tenant security, asserting that parliamentary action had failed to stop evictions or rein in housing costs.

Today we call for strike committees to be created in all workplaces and educational centers, for assemblies to be held, and for people to organize to start the general strike in mid-November.

Demands and plans for future mobilization

Demonstrators carried banners with slogans including 'Stop housing as a business,' 'Investors are invaders,' and 'PSOE and Sumar are part of the problem.' The crowd also chanted slogans such as 'Out with rentiers from our neighborhoods,' 'No homes without people, no people without homes,' and 'If I pay rent I cannot afford food.' Spokespersons for the convening groups declared that the day's unrest opens a wider phase of social mobilization across the region. Entrebarris spokesperson Iker Gallego stated that organizations will soon meet to discuss future initiatives, including possible public encampments, while PAH representative Jose Luis Gonzalez Meseguer noted that the movement will channel public frustration into sustained collective action.