Mass housing protests in Barcelona turned violent on Monday night as clashes broke out between demonstrators and riot police, leaving around 30 officers injured and 13 people arrested — the most serious unrest yet in Spain's weeks-long housing crisis movement.
What began as a massive peaceful march from Plaça Urquinaona — rescheduled from the weekend because of a severe weather alert — descended into hours of street battles as groups of activists threw stones and set fire to trash containers and barricades. Police responded with water cannon. Fires burned in tourist hotspots including Plaça Catalunya and La Rambla. Organisers claimed 120,000 people took part; police put the figure closer to 20,000, The Sun reports.
The Spark: An 87-Year-Old's Eviction
The protest wave began on September 23, when 87-year-old María del Carmen "Maricarmen" Abascal was forcibly evicted from her Madrid home — carried out on a stretcher — after the investment firm Urbagestión, which had bought her building, raised her rent by 275 percent. The televised eviction of the disabled pensioner, who had lived in the apartment for decades under a rent-controlled tenancy, ignited nationwide outrage. Under mounting public pressure, Urbagestión later agreed to let her return on a low rent.
The case crystallized a deeper crisis: housing prices have risen 12.2 percent in a single year, and the Bank of Spain has warned that 750,000 new homes are needed to close the supply gap. Encampments inspired by the 2011 15-M movement sprang up in Madrid's Puerta del Sol and spread to Barcelona, Málaga and other cities.
The Political Stakes
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's government answered the protests with two emergency housing decree-laws on September 29 — including a ban on evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, a ban on so-called "vulture fund" property purchases until 2028, and tighter regulation of seasonal and room rentals. But Congress voted down both decrees on October 2, with the conservative PP, far-right Vox and the Catalan party Junts all opposed.
The parliamentary defeat prompted Sánchez to call a snap general election for November 29, 2026. Tenant unions, which called the measures a starting point but insufficient, are demanding stronger protections and have called for a general strike. Opposition parties counter that rent caps and purchase bans will shrink supply and hurt small landlords, while Vox has blamed the crisis on immigration.
What Happens Next
With the election campaign now running in parallel with the protest movement, housing has become the defining issue of Spanish politics. More demonstrations are planned, and Monday night's violence has hardened positions on both sides: protesters accuse the police of excessive force against demonstrators, while authorities say masked groups hijacked what began as a peaceful march.
The takeaway: from one elderly woman's eviction to burning barricades in Barcelona, Spain's housing crisis has become a national reckoning — and the November 29 election will be fought in its shadow.
Watch: Reuters footage of the clashes in central Barcelona during the October 5 housing protest.
Music: Kevin MacLeod - Hitman (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: The Sun, Wikipedia: 2026 Spanish housing protests, informat.ro, Ittefaq