Tens of thousands of people joined Spain's first general strike in 14 years over housing and the cost of living, and clashes later broke out in Barcelona between groups of masked men and police, the BBC reported. About 120,000 people demonstrated in Madrid and more than 50,000 in Barcelona, where footage showed masked men setting fire to rubbish bins and smashing shop windows as police fired tear gas. Pepe Álvarez, head of the UGT union, called participation "massive"; Unai Sordo of the CC OO union called turnout "very significant." Spaniards are due to vote in parliamentary elections on Nov. 29. The strike was triggered by protests over housing costs after the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from a Madrid flat where she had lived for seven decades; she died in hospital weeks later.
In Barcelona, some disturbances were on the Passeig de Gràcia, near Plaça de Catalunya. Local media reported fireworks fired toward police and looting, including at a Lego store, and attempts to enter an Apple Store. A woman who spoke to the BBC said the protest had been mostly peaceful and "joyful," with "a lot of children and old people," and that she was there over housing costs; later, on Las Ramblas, she said "the fires were everywhere, it was very intense." The interior ministry said dozens of people were arrested, and Spanish reports said estate agencies had been attacked. Olga Domingo, a 37-year-old teacher, said "the current cost of living compared to wages is completely unsustainable." Idealista put the average monthly rent for a 50-square-meter apartment in Madrid at 1,170 euros, or about $1,300, in October, against a national average gross monthly salary of about 2,460 euros, nearly half a paycheck and well above a commonly cited 30% affordability guideline.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called snap elections after parliament failed to approve his housing-reform plan, and he has encouraged workers to demand affordable housing. The conservative People's Party, leading in the polls, accused the government of weaponizing the strike; leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo called it "nonsense" and used harsh language about the unions. Power use fell 7.5% in the early hours of Wednesday, according to Red Eléctrica, compared with a drop of more than 15% in the 2012 general strike. Miguel Garrido of the CEOE business association said the stoppage was political, not labor-related. Gonzalo Álvarez, 27, who rents a one-bedroom flat in Arganzuela for 1,000 euros with his girlfriend, called buying a home "completely impossible" on current salaries and said Abascal's eviction "was the little fire" that sparked the protest.
The verified news is a nationwide strike, the published turnout and rent figures, disruption, and later clashes and arrests in Barcelona. It is not a result of the Nov. 29 election, and union success claims are not the same thing as an official ballot count.