A camp set up at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol to demand the right to housing was dismantled overnight from Monday, November 2, to Tuesday, November 3, after more than five weeks. The protest began on September 26, less than a month before Spain’s early general election scheduled for November 29.
At around 3 a.m., riot police arrived to clear the square. Madrid’s regional government said 334 people were evacuated and two were detained on suspicion of disobedience. It described the operation as having taken place “without incidents or episodes of violence.”
Organizers disputed that account, alleging on Telegram that police used force and tear gas, leaving several people injured. Flor, a 43-year-old homeless woman who said she had lived at the camp since its first day, told Agence France-Presse that people were made to leave and were not allowed to take their belongings.
The camp had grown to include several hundred tents and offered facilities including a canteen, library, hardware store and infirmary. Alongside housing campaigners, many homeless people had found shelter there.
The protest followed the eviction and subsequent death of 87-year-old Madrid resident Maricarmen Abascal, whose case prompted demonstrations and brought the housing crisis back into public debate. The crisis is a major concern in Spain, where renting a 50-square-metre apartment in Madrid cost an average of about €1,170 a month in October, according to property platform Idealista.
Sources: Le Monde International.