The social response to the rejection of the two housing decrees has spread throughout various parts of the Catalan capital. More than a thousand people demonstrated throughout the afternoon and evening to demand the calling of a general strike. Activists blocked traffic on Avinguda Meridiana for a while, and at Plaça Catalunya, various representatives of movements defending the right to housing, such as the Tenants' Union (Sindicat de Llogateres) and the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), held an assembly to decide how to approach the stoppage and call for people to take to the streets this weekend. This Saturday, at 7 p.m., a new demonstration is scheduled at Plaça Pius XII in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, with two columns departing from Barcelona and Sabadell.
The repeal of the decrees ignites the streets and the Madrid encampment remains indefinitely
The protesters call to extend the protest until the unions call a general strike
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MadridSadness and indignation over the repeal of the decrees and determination to continue the protest. This is the atmosphere that was felt this Friday evening at Puerta del Sol after the plenary session of Congress in which Junts, PP, and Vox struck down the anti-eviction measures and the extension of rental contracts. "We are not leaving, we are staying" and calls for a general strike are some of the slogans that have been heard at the encampment in the center of Madrid, where the protest moved after having concentrated at the doors of the lower house during the morning to exert pressure on the deputies.
Once the parliamentary defeat was confirmed, those gathered urged each other to maintain the pressure on the streets. This Saturday, demonstrations have been called throughout the State. In Madrid, one of the largest is expected. It will be at 12 p.m. with four different starting points (north, south, east, and west) that will converge at Plaza Cibeles. In parallel, the encampment at Sol remains indefinitely and, given the large influx of people, its members have raised the possibility of expanding it to Callao, another iconic square in the Spanish capital located about 400 meters away.
Around 9 p.m. this Friday, a massive assembly was held at Sol in which it was decided to escalate and not move. "We are overwhelmed," explained a member of the commissions that have been created to organize the encampment. According to what they reported, there is no longer space to set up more tents and they have estimated at 1,800 those currently there as more people interested in joining the action arrive or write to them. This expansion is occurring in parallel with the decision of the Tenants' Union to go in the opposite direction and reduce its presence at the encampment to refocus on the struggle in the neighborhoods.
While hundreds of people participated in this assembly, the spokespersons for the Tenants' Union, Valeria Racu and Alícia del Río, explained in an Instagram live broadcast, made a few meters away at the collective's stand, that the encampment no longer depends on them. "We were the engine and the spark, but it has overwhelmed us; there are so many people, other collectives, a separate assembly; whether the encampment continues or not is no longer a decision we can make," they stated in response to questions from hundreds of followers about what steps should be taken from now on.
"Maintain the encampment at Sol until the unions call a general strike" is the slogan that they were distributing in pamphlets during the evening from another collective, Izquierda Revolucionaria. Shortly before 10 p.m., a column of thousands of people, with red flags, anti-fascist slogans, and some with their faces covered, began a night march from Sol again to the Congress (and back again given the strong police deployment), and the actions and meetings will continue in the coming days. The demonstrations have also been repeated in other Catalan towns and in the rest of the State.
