Barcelona mobilizes for the right to housing in a multitudinous demonstration
The Urban Guard estimates 55,000 participants, while the Tenants' Union raises the attendance up to 400,000 people
BarcelonaThe unitary demonstration called this Wednesday in Barcelona on the occasion of the general strike to demand improvements in access to housing and decent wages has brought together tens of thousands of people in the city center. The mobilization, which began at 5:30 p.m. at the Jardinets de Gràcia, advanced very slowly due to the high participation and filled the Passeig de Gràcia up to the Plaça de Catalunya. The Guàrdia Urbana has estimated the attendance at 55,000 people, while the Tenants' Union has raised it to 400,000.
The protest mainly gathered young people, but also older people and many families with children. During the route, handmade banners could be seen with messages such as "Decent housing, now" and "Rights, home and bread", as well as Palestinian flags and some Estelada flags. The participants also made their house keys rattle as a symbol of protest and chanted slogans such as "Either rents go down, or the streets will burn" and "People without a home and homes without people".
The march was promoted by the platform Ens Costa la Vida, the Tenants' Union and the Catalan Union Board, with the support of CCOO and UGT, and political representatives from progressive parties also participated. Before starting, the spokesperson for the Tenants' Union, Carme Arcarazo, demanded a ban on real estate speculation and an increase in taxes on the "very rich" to expand the social housing stock. At the end of the mobilization, the spokesperson for the Tenants' Union, Enric Aragonès, demanded more disobedience and rent strikes.
The demonstration took place with a peaceful, vindicative and festive tone. In the end, however, a group of hooded young people dressed in black, who had remained separated from the rest of the participants, caused incidents in the center of Barcelona. From shortly before eight in the evening, they began to throw firecrackers, flares, fireworks and blunt objects at the Mossos d'Esquadra in the Plaça de Catalunya and the Passeig de Gràcia. Also, in a dispersed manner, they broke shop windows and looted some of the shops in the center of the Catalan capital, while the police acted with a special operation of 9,000 agents to disperse them.
