BARCELONA, Spain: Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched in protests held across the European country on Saturday in anger over high housing costs with no relief in sight.
Government authorities said that 15,000 marched in Madrid, while organizers said 10 times that many took to the streets of the capital. In Barcelona, the city hall said 12,000 people took part in the protest, while organizers claimed over 100,000 did.
The massive demonstration of social angst that is a major concern for Spain’s left-wing government was organized by housing activists and backed by Spain’s main labor unions.
The housing crisis has hit particularly hard in Spain, where there is a strong tradition of home ownership and scant public housing for rent. Rents have been driven up by increased demand. Buying a home has become unaffordable for many, with market pressures and speculation driving up prices, especially in big cities and coastal areas.
A generation of young people say they have to stay with their parents or spend big just to share an apartment, with little chance of saving enough to one day purchase a home. High housing costs mean even those with traditionally well-paying jobs are struggling to make ends meet.
“I’m living with four people and still, I allocate 30 or 40 percent of my salary to rent,” said Mari Sánchez, a 26-year-old lawyer in Madrid. “That doesn’t allow me to save. That doesn’t allow me to do anything. It doesn’t even allow me to buy a car. That’s my current situation, and the one many young people are living through.”
Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez said on X that “I share the demand of the numerous people who have marched today: that homes are for living in and not for speculating.”
Lack of public housing
The average rent in Spain has almost doubled in the last 10 years. The price per square meter rose from 7.2 euros ($7.90) in 2014 to 13 euros last year, according to real estate website Idealista. The increase is bigger in Madrid and Barcelona.
Incomes have failed to keep up, especially for younger people in a country with chronically high unemployment.
Spain does not have the public housing that other European nations have invested in to cushion struggling renters from a market that is pricing them out.
Spain is near the bottom end of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries with public housing for rent making up under 2 percent of all available housing. The OECD average is 7 percent. In France it is is 14 percent, Britain 16 percent and the Netherlands 34 percent.
Angry renters point to instances of international hedge funds buying up properties, often with the aim of renting them to foreign tourists. The question has become so politically charged that Barcelona’s city government pledged last year to phase out all its 10,000 permits for short-term rentals, many of them advertised on platforms like Airbnb, by 2028.
Marchers in Madrid on Saturday chanted “Get Airbnb out of our neighborhoods” and held up signs against short-term rentals. In Barcelona, someone carried a sign reading “I am not leaving, vampire,” apparently in a message to would-be real estate speculator seeking to drive him out of his home.
Authorities under pressure
The central government’s biggest initiative for curbing the cost of housing is a rent cap mechanism it has offered to regional authorities, based on a price index established by the housing ministry. The government says the measure has slightly reduced rents in Barcelona, one of the few areas it has been applied.
But government measures have not proven enough to stop protests over the past two years. Experts say the situation likely won’t improve anytime soon.
“This is not the first, nor will it be the last, (housing protest) given the severity of the housing crisis,” Ignasi Martí, professor with the Esade business school and head of its Dignified Housing Observatory, said in an email.
“We saw this with the financial crisis (of 2008-2012) when (a protest movement) lasted until there was a certain economic recovery and a reduction in the social tension,” Marti added.
Tens of thousands of Spaniards march across the country to protest the growing housing crisis
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Tens of thousands of Spaniards march across the country to protest the growing housing crisis
- The housing crisis has hit particularly hard in Spain, where there is a strong tradition of home ownership and scant public housing for rent
Zelensky reaffirms his refusal to cede land to Russia as he rallies European support
- “Undoubtedly, Russia insists for us to give up territories. We, clearly, don’t want to give up anything. That’s what we are fighting for,” Zelensky says
ROME: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reaffirmed his strong refusal to cede any territory, resisting US pressure for painful concessions to Russia as he moved ahead Tuesday to rally more European support for his country.
“Undoubtedly, Russia insists for us to give up territories. We, clearly, don’t want to give up anything. That’s what we are fighting for,” Zelensky told reporters in a WhatsApp chat late Monday.
“Do we consider ceding any territories? According to the law we don’t have such right,” he said. “According to Ukraine’s law, our constitution, international law, and to be frank, we don’t have a moral right either.”
In an interview with Politico released Tuesday, US President Donald Trump pressed Zelensky to accept the US proposal that Ukraine cede territory to Russia, arguing Moscow has the “upper hand” in its nearly 4-year-old invasion, and that Zelensky’s government must “play ball.”
Zelensky met in Rome with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, discussing the progress of the peace process, her office said. They emphasized the importance of US and European unity and of solutions “that will have repercussions on the continent’s security,” the statement said.
They also discussed “developing robust security guarantees to prevent future aggression and maintaining pressure on Russia to join the negotiating table in good faith,” it said.
Earlier, Zelensky met with Pope Leo XIV at Castel Gandolfo, a papal residence outside Rome. The Vatican said Leo reiterated the need for continuing dialogue and “expressed his urgent desire that the current diplomatic initiatives bring about a just and lasting peace.”
The Holy See has tried to stay neutral in the war while offering solidarity and assistance to what it calls the “martyred” people of Ukraine. Leo has met three times with Zelensky and has spoken by telephone at least once with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling for a ceasefire and urging Moscow to make gestures promoting peace.
On Monday, Zelensky held talks in London with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to strengthen Ukraine’s hand amid mounting impatience from Trump.
Ukraine faces US pressure
US and Ukrainian negotiators completed three days of talks Saturday aimed at trying to narrow differences on the Trump administration’s peace proposal.
A major sticking point is the suggestion that Kyiv must give up control of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to Russia, which occupies most but not all of the territory. Ukraine and its European allies firmly resist the idea of handing over land.
“You know, a lot of people are dying,” Trump told Politico on Monday, claiming that other Ukrainian officials that he identified only as Zelensky’s “lieutenants, his top people” agree with the US administration.
Other than Zelensky’s comments Monday, Ukrainian negotiators have said little in public about the content of the US proposal or their attitude toward it.
Speaking to reporters again Tuesday on WhatsApp, Zelensky said three documents were being discussed with American and European partners — a 20-point framework document that is constantly changing, a document on security guarantees and a document about Ukraine’s recovery.
Zelensky told reporters that Ukraine’s updated version of the proposal would be given to the US on Wednesday.
Russia, Trump said, is too powerful for Ukraine to continue fighting.
“I give the people of Ukraine and the military of Ukraine tremendous credit for the, you know, bravery and for the fighting and all of that,” he said. “But you know, at some point, size will win, generally.”
Trump also repeated his call for Ukraine to hold a presidential election even though martial law doesn’t allow it and Zelensky, elected in 2019, had his five-year term extended because of the war. Trump’s position on Ukraine’s failure to hold an election mirrors frequent statements on the subject by Putin.
Responding to Trump’s remarks, Zelensky asked for help from the US and possibly Europe “to ensure security for the elections” and suggested that Ukraine could be ready to hold balloting in 60 to 90 days.
In past comments, Zelensky has declined to hold elections until a ceasefire is declared and martial law lifted, and Ukrainians have largely supported that decision.
European leaders repeat support for Kyiv
Starmer, Macron and Merz strongly backed Kyiv, with the UK leader saying Monday that the push for peace was at a “critical stage” and stressing the need for “a just and lasting ceasefire.”
Merz, meanwhile, said he was “skeptical” about some details in documents released by the US “We have to talk about it. That’s why we are here,” he said. “The coming days … could be a decisive time for all of us.”
European leaders are working to ensure that any ceasefire is backed by solid security guarantees both from Europe and the US to deter Russia from attacking again. Trump has not given explicit guarantees in public.
Zelensky and his European allies have repeatedly accused Putin of slow-walking the talks to press ahead with the invasion.
Both sides exchange aerial strikes
Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 110 drones across the country overnight. While air defenses neutralized 84 drones, 24 more struck their targets.
Several regions of Ukraine faced emergency blackouts Tuesday due to Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, according to Ukraine’s national energy operator, Ukrenergo.
UN deputy humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya said Tuesday only 65 percent of the $278 million required to fund a winter response plan in Ukraine has been received, forcing cuts to services like cash assistance, heating support, mental health care and protection for women and girls.
This means families are facing freezing temperatures without heating, women and girls are losing access to “safe spaces” and older people in front-line areas are left without the means to evacuate, she told the UN Security Council.
The UK Defense Ministry said a member of the British military died Tuesday of his injuries from an accident while observing Ukrainian troops test a defensive system away from the front lines — the first UK servicemember to die in Ukraine in the war. It was not immediately clear what role he was serving or where the accident occurred.
The UK military has said a small of number of personnel are in Ukraine to protect British diplomats and support Ukrainian troops.
Ukraine also continued its drone attacks on Russia.
Russia said it destroyed 121 drones in various regions and in the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. In Chuvashia, a region about 900 kilometers (about 560 miles) northeast of the Ukrainian border, an attack damaged residential buildings and injured nine people, Gov. Oleg Nikolayev said.
Ukraine’s Security Service carried out a drone attack on a liquefied gas terminal at the port of Temryuk in Russia’s Krasnodar region on Dec. 5, according to an official with knowledge of the operation who spoke to The Associated Press.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said the strike sparked a fire at the facility, with more than 20 storage tanks set ablaze for over three days.
