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Protesters in the tens of thousands rallied across Spain, including in Madrid, on Saturday calling for affordable housing, a day after parliament shot down relief measures for tenants.
The protests add to a crisis that has run for more than 1 week, sparked by the eviction last month of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her home in Madrid.
She had lived in the apartment for more than 7 decades before an investment firm bought it and sought a 275% increase in her rent, housing campaigners say. The backlash pushed the new owners to agree to let her return under a low-cost lease.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez suffered another political blow, and the loss reopens doubts about whether his minority government can last until the general election scheduled for 2027.
Opposition lawmakers voted down the government's proposals on Friday, including automatic renewal of tenancy agreements and limits on evicting vulnerable tenants. The vote angered protesters over Spain's increasingly expensive housing market.
Hundreds of people have occupied a tent city erected 1 week ago in downtown Madrid to push for reforms.
Police stopped far-right groups, some giving Nazi salutes, from reaching the camp late on Saturday. Spanish daily El País posted a video showing officers chasing some of them through the streets, and the newspaper reported 3 arrests.
Earlier Saturday, demonstrators filled the capital's streets. Authorities said 70,000 people took part, but the organizers put the figure at 500,000.
Smaller demonstrations took place in other cities, including Palma de Mallorca, Santander, Segovia and Toledo. Local media reported that five people were arrested after clashes with police in Valencia.
Marcos Sainz, a 26-year-old librarian, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) he once shared a 2-bedroom apartment with friends for a total of 900 euros ($1,000) each month. Today, 1-bedroom flats often cost 1,000 euros, or half the capital's median monthly salary.
Sainz said he would protest rent hikes "until someone dares to regulate it all as (otherwise) we'll all have to leave Madrid and that would be a shame, as I am from Madrid."
The housing bills that Sanchez's leftist coalition put before parliament failed after the Catalan separatist party Junts, on whose support the government relies, voted against them, saying they lacked rigour.
Junts sided with the main opposition Popular Party (PP) and the far-right Vox party to kill the proposals. PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo on Saturday pressed Sanchez to call early elections "because the country can't take any more." Recent surveys generally put PP ahead of the Socialists.
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