Nationwide Strike Sparks Clashes Across Spain as Workers Walk Out

Spain’s housing crisis spilled onto the streets as tens of thousands joined a general strike and mass marches, turning city centres into stages for anger over rents, wages and the cost of living just weeks before a snap national election.

Unions said the response was striking in key industries during Spain’s first nationwide 24-hour stoppage since 2012, while business leaders insisted participation was limited and the country largely kept working.

In driving rain, about 120,000 people marched through central Madrid, brandishing house-shaped placards and chanting “We have no home” as they demanded measures to make housing more affordable.

A protestor in Barcelona holds up a poster as objects burn in the background

“People work a lot and it isn’t enough to pay the rent, to pay for a house,” said Paula Diaz, a 25-year-old theatre technician who still lives with her parents, speaking to reporters at the Madrid demonstration.

“I hope a government that benefits us comes to power, especially the working class,” she added.

In Barcelona, where officials put the crowd at 55,000 as marchers moved along the upscale Passeig de Gracia shopping avenue, Maria Pinana argued that “the law of supply and demand does not apply to housing”.

“The price of rents should be regulated,” said the 34-year-old microbiologist, who shares a flat with three friends and said parts of the roof there have collapsed.

Other demonstrations took place across Spain, including in Bilbao, Valencia and Zaragoza.

Fireworks and flares are let off during one demonstration

With the early election approaching — and the right-wing opposition forecast to win — the turnout is likely to be read as a gauge of public frustration.

In Madrid, many shops operated as usual, but protest groups blocked roads and staged pickets, tactics echoed in other parts of the country.

Despite minimum service requirements, commuter travel was disrupted on trains, metro lines and buses, particularly in and around Barcelona.

Madrid’s metro, by contrast, said 93% of its trains were running early in the morning, though passenger numbers were down by about half.

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UGT union leader Pepe Alvarez told public broadcaster RTVE that participation had been “massive”, describing a “total” stoppage in some regions and calling the strike “a huge success”.

Even so, his union said the impact was “uneven”, pointing to strong mobilisation in car manufacturing, petrochemicals and the meat sector, as well as in coastal regions.

The CEOE employers’ organisation dismissed the strike as “a failure”, saying in a statement that activity continued normally across most industries.

Electricity demand dropped by about 5%, the CEOE said, calling that fall “significantly lower” than in previous strikes.

Living costs are another major concern, with inflation hitting 4.9% in September and October

The UGT and CCOO unions called the strike after a wave of nationwide protests over access to housing, triggered by the September eviction of an 87-year-old pensioner in Madrid.

Valeria Racu, a spokeswoman for the Madrid Tenants’ Union — a prominent organiser of recent protests — pledged to “put an end to the housing business in this country”.

“A new cycle is beginning with trade unionism and conflict at its centre. This day of strikes has been a resounding success,” she said.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez brought forward the election, originally set for 2027, after his minority government failed to win parliamentary backing for a package of housing measures drafted in response to the demonstrations.

Business groups and the right have opposed the strike, portraying it as an election-season manoeuvre rather than a genuine labour conflict.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators braved the rain as they marched through central Madrid

Union leaders, however, have maintained that the stoppage targets the state as a whole — not only the right, which voted down the government’s housing decrees.

They have presented the walkout as an extraordinary step aimed at building broad social pressure for action as housing costs climb.

Alongside housing, households are also grappling with higher everyday expenses, with inflation running at 4.9% in September and October — the highest level in more than three years.

Isabel Iglesias, a nurse in Madrid, said housing was the issue “that is affecting me the most”. She and her partner pay €1,000 in rent, while she earns €1,700 a month.

Ms Iglesias, 27, said Mr Sanchez, in office since 2018, “could have done much more” on housing, and urged the next government “to listen to everyone and get their act together”.