Madrid, Oct 13 (EFE).- Thousands of people demonstrated this Sunday in the capital of Spain against the high price of housing rentals, a social problem that is increasing, threatening many low-income families and preventing the majority from of young people to emancipate themselves from their parents.
Between 22,000 people participated in the protest, according to the Government, and 150,000, according to the organizers.
After finishing, a group of protesters decided to continue on their own along Gran Vía, one of the main streets in the center of Madrid, which collapsed car traffic.
Convened by the Tenants’ Union, the protesters urged the Government, real estate employers and landlords to lower prices because, otherwise, rents will not be paid.
“There are not enough police, courts or thugs” to evict them all if they stop paying, warned the organization’s spokesperson, Valeria Rapu.
The organization has demanded the resignation of the housing minister, the socialist Isabel Rodríguez, “that she go home, to one of the many she has.”
The demonstration was supported by the CCOO and UGT unions, the Podemos party (left), the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), Amnesty International, Ecologists in Action and the Llogateres Union, which organized another demonstration in Barcelona.
The general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, accused the major Spanish parties, the Socialist Party (now in power) and the Popular Party (right) of allowing housing to be a good for decades “to speculate on, to invest in and make a profit on.” , when in reality houses are “for living in.”
“We need Spain to prohibit vulture funds and large rentiers from buying housing once and for all,” he said.
In general, the increase in rents is accentuated by factors such as a housing supply clearly lower than demand, and the proliferation of tourist apartments that have a higher profitability for owners in large cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and coastal towns.
The left-wing central executive has urged regional authorities to apply the law that allows them to declare “tensioned areas” in their territories to intervene in rental prices, which the regions governed by the right are resisting.
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