tens of thousands of angry Spaniards have flooded the streets nationwide to call for a resolution to a housing crisis they argue has been exacerbated by large-scale tourism.
Protests in key Spanish urban centers such as Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga, and Palma de Mallorca have erupted as the nation grapples with the challenge of promoting tourism while also tackling residents' worries about rising housing expenses.
In the meantime, organizers have encouraged protesters to use superglue on the locks of vacation rental properties in an effort to disrupt holidays for renters.
As per the organizers, 30,000 individuals filled the streets of Málaga – a coastal city in southern Spain. Spain Which is favored by British and German vacationers — as they called for solutions to the housing crisis, displaying signs that read: "Homes for the residents of Málaga. Hotels for tourists, affordable rentals."
However, the authorities have stated that approximately 5,000 protesters participated in the demonstration in Málaga.
The residents were pictured carrying signs that read: "Homes for the people of Málaga. Hotels for visitors."
Others have displayed posters from their balconies and windows bearing messages stating, " Housing is a fundamental right, not a commodity."
At the same time in Madrid, approximately 15,000 individuals convened in the city’s Atocha district and proceeded toward Plaza de España, chanting phrases such as "Property owners are robbers" and "Rentals will perish in Madrid."
Frustrated tenants have highlighted cases where international hedge funds are acquiring properties, typically to lease them out to foreign visitors.
The issue has grown so politically sensitive that Barcelona’s local administration committed last year to eliminate all 10,000 short-term rental licenses it currently issues by 2028, with many of these listings found on sites such as Airbnb.
On Saturday, protesters in Madrid shouted "Airbnb out of our neighborhoods" and carried banners opposing short-term rentals.
'No more leaving our neighborhoods, our homes, or even our cities every five or seven years,' said Valeria Racu, spokesperson for the Madrid tenants' union, in a statement at the start of the demonstration.
'We're calling on the half-million households whose contracts expire in 2025 to stay home and resist,' she added.
In the southern city of Murcia, 500 people chanted: 'We will not tolerate one more eviction'.
Up north in Santander, a city on Spain's Atlantic coast, residents demanded public houses.
'No houses without people, no people without houses,' 'everyone under a roof, housing is a right', those in attendance chanted.
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.
According to Spain's central bank, almost 40% of Spanish families who rent spend nearly half of their income on housing.
In April last year the government said it would scrap its so-called 'golden visa' programme granting residency rights to foreigners who make large investments in real estate in the country, which the Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said would help make access to affordable housing 'a right instead of a speculative business'.
The average rent in Spain has almost doubled in the last 10 years.
The price per square meter rose from 7.2 euros ($7.9) 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.
Today's protests are the latest in a spate of demonstrations that rocked Spain last summer, as tens of thousands of fed up locals filled the streets to protest mass tourism.
Anti-tourism campaigners have long been contesting the current tourism model, claiming that many locals have been priced out by holidaymakers, expats and foreign buyers.
Last year, Spain saw a record-breaking number of tourists, with over 15 million visitors flocking to the island of Mallorca alone.
In response, protestors took to the streets across Spain, leaving countless visitors fuming after paying hundreds of pounds to enjoy their holidays abroad.
Actions included marches on the street with protesters chanting 'tourists go home', as well as demonstrations on beaches which saw locals boo and jeer at sun-soaked tourists.
In one particular instance, up to 50,000 locals descended onto the streets of the Mallorca capital Palma.
Meanwhile in Barcelona, some 2,800 people marched along a waterfront district of Barcelona to demand a new economic model that would reduce the millions of tourists that visit every year.
Protesters carried signs reading 'Barcelona is not for sale,' and, 'Tourists go home,' before some used water guns on tourists eating outdoors at restaurants in popular tourist hotspots.
Chants of 'Tourists out of our neighbourhood' rang out as some stopped in front of the entrances to hotels.
Last month, anti-tourism campaigners issued a chilling warning to British holidaymakers after they threatened to unleash more chaos.
With summer holidays looming, the Mallorcan anti-tourism campaign group Banc del Temps Sencells posted a video hinting that there will be more action taken.
In the clip, locals can be seen marching through Mallorca's streets holding 'For Sale' signs, as they vent about how they are being priced out by tourists.
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