Massive Demonstration in Barcelona Demands Lower Rents and Calls for Strike
View of the demonstration to demand a reduction in rents and in defense of the right to housing, under the slogan’S’ha acabat’ (It is over), which has the support of more than 4,000 organizations, this Saturday in Barcelona. Photo: EFE/ Enric Fontcuberta
November 23, 2024 Hour: 6:07 pm
A massive demonstration, attended by 22,000 people according to the Urban Guard and 170,000 according to the organization, has demanded today in Barcelona a decrease in rents and called for a strike of tenants if the housing situation does not improve.
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“The November 23th has pulverized all records. The largest demonstration for housing in history and the Spanish state. This is just the beginning, we’re going to rent strike!” , the Union of Tenants, organizer of the demonstration, has highlighted once the protest is over.
Inspired by the meeting held in Madrid on 13 October, the participants began their march towards 5.00 pm at Plaza Universitat and ended it around 8.00 pm at Sants station, in one of the largest demonstrations in the Catalan capital against rent increases.
The main demands of the protest are a 50% rent cut, promoting open-ended contracts “to end blackmail and insecurity at the end of each contract”, recovering housing for residential use and banning speculative buying, according to the organisers.
“It cannot be that investors come to our cities and play with the floors as in the Monopoly,” said the spokesperson of the Union of Tenants, Carme Arcarazo before starting the march.
Subsequently, the demonstrators, with chants against the rentistas and some politicians and posters claiming, have been directed towards the Casa Orsola, one of the symbols of the movement for housing in Barcelona.
Barcelona, one of the most touristic cities in Spain next to Madrid, has been suffering for years a significant increase in rental prices, as has the capital of Spain.
This week the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, reiterated to the platform of tourist rental AirBnb that the decision to extinguish in 2028 the licenses of the 10,000 houses for tourist use (VUT) existing in the city with the objective of “Return these 10,000 apartments to the residential market, which will directly benefit more than 25,000 citizens.”
Author: ACJ
Source: EFE