#Spain #protests
"Mass protests topples Spanish government, new election called
Faced with thousands on the streets Premier Sanchez’s attempt to placate widespread unrest over the housing crisis were sunk by a right-wing coalition. As John Rees explains, the political balance in Spain is at a critical stage.
Huge protests have forced the Spanish government to resign. There will now be a new general election on 29 November.
Spain has been rocked by enormous protests over housing for weeks now.
The housing crisis was already a contentious political issue when the high-profile eviction of an 87-year-old, Maricarmen Abascal, took place on 23 September. She issued this call ‘I want what happened to me to help ensure it doesn’t happen to other people. I want it to lead people to fight so the unfair laws that allowed for my eviction can be changed’. That triggered a huge popular response.
Widespread protests turned into an organised encampment at a central square in Madrid, forcing the Spanish government under Pedro Sanchez to agree to an emergency relief package including a temporary ban on evictions and stronger protection for tenants from soaring rents.
But that concession didn’t halt the movement. Last Saturday saw a mobilisation of a quarter of a million in Madrid. Many demonstrators, and the tenants union, were calling for a general strike.
The protestors have been highly critical of the housing policies of Spanish governments of both right and left, both national and local. The protests have met with support from left-wing political parties, including Sanchez’s ruling Socialist Party and with open hostility from the right-wing Peoples Party and the far right Vox. Protestors chanting ‘Here are the anti-fascists’ had to hold off a fascist attempt to break up one of the camps.
It was the People’s Party and Vox, aided by the centre right Together for Catalonia, that blocked the parliamentary ratification of the Spanish government’s relief measures three days ago. That fuelled even more protests which spread to cities across the country and led to further calls for a general strike in defence of housing rights and against property speculators.
The political crisis was so intense that Sanchez took the gamble to try and break the parliamentary deadlock with a new election. It’s a high stakes move. The Socialist Party are trailing in most polls and many are fearful that Vox and the populist right will win the contest. That would end one of the few social democratic governments in Europe and give the far right a boost across the continent."
https://www.counterfire.org/article/mass-protests-topples-spanish-government-new-election-called/