Spain Sees Largest General Strike in 14 Years 

By Staff, Agencies 

Spain held its first major nationwide general strike in 14 years on Wednesday, with more than a million people marching against soaring rent and demanding stronger tenant protections, according to organizers.

While daytime demonstrations were largely peaceful, a rally in Barcelona, Spain’s second-largest city, was followed by looting and clashes with police.

Around 4 million workers took part in the strike, Reuters reported.

The rallies took place less than three weeks before Spain’s snap parliamentary election, scheduled for November 29. 

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the early vote after parliament rejected two housing reform decrees on October 2. The measures, which included rent caps, stronger protections against evictions, and restrictions on property speculation, were defeated by the conservative People’s Party, the right-wing Vox party, and the Catalan separatist party, Junts.

In the capital, protesters chanted “This is class struggle” and “Madrid will be the graveyard of landlordism.” Organizers estimated turnout at 600,000 to 750,000; the authorities put the figure at more than 120,000.

Organizers said 400,000 people marched in Barcelona. Police put attendance at 55,000, which the Tenants’ Union called a significant underestimate.

The march, organized by the Tenants’ Union and the Confederation of Housing Unions of Catalonia, saw protesters chant “Landlords, wake up, your party is over!”

According to El Pais, after the demonstration ended in Barcelona, groups of masked rioters erected makeshift barricades and targeted shops, smashing windows and setting garbage containers on fire.

A Lego store was among the businesses vandalized. Other establishments were looted.

Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni reported around 50 arrests following the unrest; at least 75 people were detained nationwide during the general strike.

“Neither violence nor vandalism represents the people who demonstrated peacefully throughout the day,” Catalan regional President Salvador Illa wrote on X. “In Catalonia, those who break the law will face the consequences.”

The protest was part of a nationwide general strike that disrupted transport and commerce across Spain. Demonstrators blocked roads in Madrid, Valencia, and other cities, and pickets forced some businesses to close. Rail services were disrupted, with 24% of high-speed AVE trains and 10% of Cercanias commuter services canceled, along with more than 330 flights.

Europe has seen a wave of unrest in recent weeks, with protests over rising living costs and the quality of public services in France and Germany erupting into clashes with police, vandalism, and looting.