One week after Maricarmen's eviction ignited the Puerta del Sol, the protest for housing has stopped fitting in one square. More than 50 mobilizations were called this weekend across Spain under a slogan that already marks the next objective of the movement: "Towards the general strike." Madrid provided this Saturday the image of large crowds; Valencia, that of clashes with the Police; Barcelona, on the other hand, had to withdraw its street call at the last minute due to a storm that threatens to hit the Catalan coast during the afternoon and overnight. The day is still ongoing in several cities, with new marches planned for the coming hours.
The context has also changed in just 24 hours. Congress rejected this Friday the two royal decrees on housing approved by the Government: the first fell by 178 votes to 172, with the opposition of PP, Vox, Junts, and UPN; the second obtained 184 votes against and 166 in favor, after PNV and Coalición Canaria also joined the rejection. The regulations included measures on rental extensions, evictions, and tenant protection, and although the calling collectives considered them insufficient, they had requested their validation.
Madrid: four columns and a difference of 430,000 people between the counts
The morning began in Madrid with four marches leaving simultaneously from Atocha, Plaza de España, the Hospital de La Princesa, and the Emilio Castelar roundabout, to which participants from the Sol camp have joined. All have been advancing towards Cibeles until converging in front of the City Hall. The mobilization has developed without significant incidents, and shortly before 14:00 hours, the columns had filled the surroundings of the square with banners against rental prices, evictions, and large property owners.
However, the participation figures offer two radically different pictures. The Tenants' Union claims that 500,000 people have participated, half a million, while the Government Delegation in Madrid estimates them at 70,000. The distance between both calculations is 430,000 attendees, and there is currently no independent count to resolve that difference; what the images and reports on the ground do show is a mobilization of tens of thousands of people and a crowded Cibeles.
The organization has wanted to turn that show of strength into the beginning of a new phase. Valeria Racu, spokesperson for the Union, has explained that they maintain contacts with labor unions to call for a general strike "as soon as possible," although there is still no date. Alicia del Río reinforced the message at the end of the march: "There is no turning back now." The call for Saturday already had that intention written in its slogan, and its promoters are now demanding rent reductions, indefinite contracts, and measures against the concentration of housing in the hands of large holders.
From Maricarmen to Cibeles in just eight days
The growth of the protest has been especially rapid. The starting point was the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, 87 years old, which first provoked a march to Congress and then a camp at Puerta del Sol. During the last week, assemblies, pot-banging, and new camps took place in other cities; the Government ended up approving two decrees with housing measures, and on Friday Congress rendered them ineffective by denying them validation.
The personal case of Maricarmen has meanwhile had a different outcome: an agreement will allow her to return to the home she had lived in for decades. However, the groups decided to maintain the mobilizations and disconnect the protest from an individual solution. Her lawyer, Beatriz Duro, participated this Saturday in the Madrid march and defined the measures that fell in Congress as minimums that, in her opinion, could have served to stop certain evictions while moving towards broader changes.
Valencia: the protest ends in front of the major real estate forum
Hundreds of kilometers from Madrid, the Valencian route ended in a much tenser way. The demonstration had started at 11:00 AM from the Porta de la Mar and had as its final point the Palau de les Arts, where this Saturday the Valencia Real Estate Summit 2026 is being held, a meeting of professionals and investors in the real estate sector. The National Police had deployed a cordon around the venue.
Upon arriving at the Palau, a part of the protesters surpassed the barriers and broke the police cordon; some even managed to enter the building. Clashes then occurred with the agents, who charged and used rubber balls and smoke or tear gas canisters to disperse the participants. RTVE describes a particularly tough confrontation at the access points, with hundreds of people trying to approach the interior of the building while the congress continued.
The chosen scenario by the organizers had an evident symbolic load: while outside there were protests against rental prices and speculation, inside the building representatives of the real estate market and investment were meeting. Until mid-afternoon, a definitive balance of possible detainees or injured had not been communicated, so it is advisable to separate the already confirmed altercations from any still provisional figures.
Barcelona runs out of march: the storm changes plans
The large Catalan mobilization was supposed to arrive in the afternoon and converge in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, where different columns from Barcelona and metropolitan municipalities were going to participate in an event that also had a tribute component to Olga, a neighbor who died months after being evicted. The plans changed early in the afternoon: the demonstration has been postponed due to the weather alerts from Civil Protection. Therefore, it is not a definitive cancellation; the organizers have moved the protest to Monday at 7:00 PM in Urquinaona Square in Barcelona.
The decision comes after the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, warned of the possible formation of a "mini-Mediterranean hurricane" and described the expected situation as "very complex." Civil Protection has raised the alerts for rain to the maximum level, 6 out of 6, in 17 regions, with forecasts that contemplate more than 200 liters per square meter in 24 hours in some areas. The Govern also anticipates mobility restrictions from 8:00 PM this Saturday until 2:00 PM on Sunday, with the coast of Tarragona, Barcelona, and Girona among the areas of highest risk.
The storm has thus frustrated one of the convocations that was expected to be the most numerous of the weekend. The Catalan movement arrived especially mobilized after several days of camping in Plaza Catalunya, protests in front of the Junts headquarters, and an open assembly that already on Friday proposed to move towards a general strike.
More than 10,000 in Las Palmas according to the organizers and 2,000 in Palma
The mobilizations have not been limited to the three major cities. In Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the march ended in the Plaza de la Feria with a notable difference between counts: 3,200 people according to the first police estimates and 10,800 according to the platform Derecho al Techo, organizer of the protest. There, the state demands were mixed with criticism of the Canary Government and with demands for more public housing and measures on vacant homes and tense areas.
In Palma, around 2,000 people traveled through the center despite the rain alert. The march precisely started from the Plaza de España, where a camp formed by about 35 tents remains installed, and headed towards the Government Delegation. The Sindicat de Llogateres de Mallorca, the Sindicat d'Habitatge de Palma, and the PAH led a call that also incorporated the horizon of the general strike.
Euskadi got ahead of Saturday: 10,000 people in Bilbao
Part of the state mobilization had already begun on Friday. In Euskadi, there were marches in Bilbao, Vitoria, and San Sebastián against real estate speculation and in defense of access to housing. In Bilbao, the Municipal Police estimated participation at around 10,000 people, who traveled through the center from the Plaza del Arriaga to the City Hall; in Vitoria, the published estimates also speak of several thousand attendees.
The Basque mobilizations practically coincided with the votes in Congress and ended up incorporating the rejection of the fall of the decrees. This Saturday, actions have been repeated in San Sebastián and Vitoria, while other cities maintain camps that began during the previous days.
Galicia, Andalucía, and other cities keep the day open
In Galicia there are calls in A Coruña, Santiago, Vigo, and Lugo, with the camping in the Obradoiro square as one of the permanent focal points of the protest. Some of these marches are scheduled for this afternoon, so by midday there is still no definitive participation balance. In Zamora, for example, more than 500 people have already taken to the streets, while the protests have also spread to Santander, Granada, Cádiz, Valladolid, and other capitals.
Andalusia had also heated up the atmosphere since Friday. In Seville, about 15,000 people participated in a march for housing, according to the report from El País, and the mobilization has been accompanied during these days by a camping in Las Setas. Málaga also maintains a camp in the Constitution square and has a new demonstration scheduled for the afternoon of this Saturday.
From the "Maricarmen decree" to the general strike
The dimension of this Saturday is better understood by observing the speed with which the protest has evolved. In just over a week, it has gone from the eviction of an 87-year-old woman to a camping in Sol, from there to simultaneous mobilizations in numerous cities, then to two decrees approved by the Council of Ministers, and finally to their rejection in Congress. Now, the movement is trying to ensure that this sequence does not close with the parliamentary vote and places on the table a next step: a general strike linked to housing and the cost of living.
The call still does not have a date and its scope will depend on the conversations between tenant unions and labor organizations. For now, what happened this Saturday shows three very different faces of the same protest: a massive and peaceful mobilization in Madrid, with 500,000 attendees according to the Union and 70,000 according to the Delegation; clashes with the Police in Valencia; and a Barcelona forced to wait until Monday due to a storm that has led the Catalan authorities to ask the population to limit their movements. The day is not over, but the housing movement has already managed to shift its next objective from the banners to the public agenda: to turn the camps and marches of these days into a larger-scale protest.