Spanish police dismantle Madrid housing protest camp ahead of snap election

Police on Tuesday dismantled a sprawling tent camp in Madrid which had spearheaded protests over Spain’s housing crisis for more than a month and prompted early elections, police and activists said.

Officers closed off much of the Spanish capital’s emblematic Puerta del Sol square on Tuesday morning as municipal cleaning staff swept away remaining debris, tents and tarpaulin.

The Madrid camp sprang up in September, after Spain’s chronic housing crisis burst into the centre of public debate following the eviction of an 87-year-old pensioner from her lifelong Madrid home.

The eviction sparked nationwide protests against runaway housing costs and a lack of tenant protections, with tens of thousands of demonstrators hitting the streets.

The Madrid camp has since mushroomed into a sprawling warren of tents and tarpaulin that hosted hundreds of people in a mini city equipped with a canteen, a clinic and a space for meetings.

On Tuesday, the central government’s delegation in the Madrid region said the eviction took place overnight “without incident or episodes of violence”, reporting that 334 people were removed and two arrested.

Firefighters, social services and 400 national and municipal police officers took part in the operation, the delegation added.

In a post on Telegram, protest organisers called it “a violent police operation” that left several people injured after being hit or as a result of tear gas.

Flor, a homeless woman who had joined the camp from the start, said hundreds of anti-riot police burst into the square in the early hours of the morning.

“They dragged us out, they hit us. They didn’t let us take away anything,” said the tearful 43-year-old, adding that “all my documents, my phone” had been left behind.

After it was set up, Madrid’s tent camp was imitated in other cities including Barcelona, Seville and Valencia.

Attempting to placate the public discontent over housing, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government presented two housing decrees that included curbs on evictions and the automatic renewal of tenant contracts.

But his minority coalition government failed to pass the laws in parliament last month, prompting Sanchez to bring forward to November 29 a general election that was scheduled in 2027.

The Madrid camp sparked tensions between the leftist national government and the conservative-run city and regional authorities, who complained that the protesters were damaging Madrid’s image by occupying a central square normally full of tourists and commuters.

Housing costs have soared in Spain in recent years, with rents in Madrid often consuming more than half of the average wage for modest households. The Bank of Spain estimates the country of around 50 million people is short of 700,000 homes, based on the gap between demand and new construction.

Spain has little public housing, while rents have been driven up by increased demand, including from tourism and population growth linked to immigration, analysts say.

Residents of the most sought-after destinations such as Barcelona also complain that short-term tourist accommodation has dried up supply and driven up prices.