Thousands of people pressure Sánchez in Barcelona

BarcelonaThe streets are also applying pressure just hours before Pedro Sánchez's government brings the new housing decree-law to the Council of Ministers. Also in Barcelona, where this Monday the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez, held various events and ended the day at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya at the awards ceremony for La Vanguardia. 2,000 people according to the Guàrdia Urbana and 20,000 according to the organizers gathered on Avinguda Diagonal to demand that the new decree include, among other things, the indefinite extension of rental contracts and the suspension of evictions.

The protesters, called by the Tenants' Union (Sindicat de Llogateres), shouted slogans to demand the right to housing on a day that the union had already announced would be one of mobilizations in the Catalan capital. They had started in the morning by blocking some of the main access roads to the city for about 40 minutes. "Twelve hours before a decree can be approved, we have come to tell Pedro Sánchez to his face that we do not want crumbs or a sham decree, we want the Maricarmen decree", stated the union spokesperson, Carme Arcarazo. "We are heading towards a general strike, which is what will guarantee structural victories," warned Arcarazo. The threat of a strike has been repeated throughout the day of mobilizations.

The most tense moments were experienced in the evening, just when the event at the Palace of Congresses ended, on the Diagonal of the Catalan capital. A part of those gathered headed home, but some protesters pushed aside the metal fences that were shielding the venue and piled them up. This was the starting point of a situation that worsened as the minutes passed, with objects thrown at the police line of the Mossos, which was getting closer and closer to the protest. The police dispersed the protest using, on some occasions, baton strikes. Around 11 p.m., the demonstration ended up dispersing and the Mossos arrested two people, an adult man and woman, for public disorder and assault on authority.

The mobilizations, however, began early in the morning, when more than a hundred activists linked to the Tenants' Union blocked various roads in the capital and caused the first mobility problems. The protests began before 8 a.m. and were concentrated on Carrer Còrsega (at the height of Carrer Sant Agustí), on Avinguda Meridiana in Barcelona –one of the city's main arteries– and at Plaça de Sants, where blockades were also carried out and banners were displayed.

The goal, according to the union itself, was to "collapse" the city, but in the end, the stoppages remained as blockades of about 40 minutes. The point where it was most difficult to restore mobility was on the Meridiana, which dragged on queues and traffic jams until past 9:30 a.m. The activists gathered on Carrer Còrsega tried to block the Diagonal, but five Mossos d'Esquadra vans prevented them from doing so.

At this point, the union's spokesperson, Enric Aragonès, listed their demands: "We are putting four things on the table: the automatic renewal of contracts and indefinite contracts, to stop suffering; a law that puts an end to the scams that we tenants suffer with seasonal rentals, room rentals, or with the return of the deposit; the freezing of the rental price during the contract and the suspension of evictions of vulnerable people in accordance with United Nations criteria," he concluded.