Tens of thousands of people gathered this Saturday in Barcelona to demand a 50% reduction in rentsin the most massive mobilization that has ever been done in the Catalan capital in defense of right to housing. The protest, called by the Llogateres Union and the entire housing movement with the support of up to 4,000 organizationshas gathered 170,000 people -according to the organizers-, a figure that the Urban Police has reduced to 22,000.
With the motto “It’s over: let’s lower the rents!“, the promoters have warned that the march is a “turning point” of a revolt to guarantee access to housing that will continue with a rent strike which they plan to start organizing starting this Sunday. The mobilization started from Plaza Universitat and culminated in Plaza de los Països Catalans, in Sants, after stopping in emblematic spaces of the fight for housing, such as Casa Orsola. In addition, this Saturday there were also demonstrations to demand rent reductions in Girona, Lleida and Tarragonawhich have brought together hundreds of attendees in each case.
“Starting tomorrow, we will begin to walk neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block and city by city to make the rent strike a reality,” exclaimed the spokesperson for the Llogateres Union, Carme Arcarazojust before the start of the march called in the Catalan capital. The promoters of the demonstration They have charged against the political leaders for having proposed “cosmetic measures” and against the rentiers “for being increasingly richer.” “If we unite, we have more power than them,” Arcarazo stressed.
Carme Arcarazo, on rentiers: “It’s over that you are getting richer and we are getting poorer”
“A new political cycle begins,” added the spokesperson for the Llogateres Union. Arcarazo has lamented that there are “millions of people holding an unfair and parasitic system“and has called for a more decisive step in the protest. Before defending the need for a strike, Arcarazo has attacked the rentierswhom he has accused of “steal half the salary“of the tenants and forcing them to leave directly or indirectly every time a contract ends: “It is over that you are getting richer and we are getting poorer.“.
It has also been especially harsh against political leaders, from whom it has demanded “truth policies” to stop the increase in rents and guarantee access to housing, “because you can’t live with constant anguish in case the contract is renewed every five years”.
“We cannot depend on politicians again”
He Socialist Habitat Union of Cataloniafor its part, has claimed the leadership of the entities to achieve a reduction in rents. The spokesperson, Marina Paréshas asked not to equate the current tenants’ revolt with the social and political struggles that were triggered in 2011: “This can’t be another 15M because we cannot depend again on the professional political leaders who have led us to this situation.
Parés has assured that the housing unions are the “only ones” who will be able to implement the changes requested by the tenants, such as a 50% reduction in rents and the recovery of homes that are now not for residential use. “It is the unions that will allow us to move towards a universal and end the real estate business“, he added.
In turn, the organizers of the II Housing Congress of Catalonia They have specified that this Saturday’s demonstration “not only appeals to the tenant class.” Your spokesperson, Marta Espriuhighlighted that the march also vindicates the task of the entities that have been mobilizing against mortgage foreclosures since 2008, as well as the groups that fight against the limitations of the immigration law “that affect people who suffer institutional racismwho do not have the right to live as dignified people.
Four major demands
Broadly speaking, the protest wanted to put on the table four “clear and urgent” demands to facilitate access to housing, which were outlined by the spokesperson for the Llogateres Union, Enric Aragonesin the interview with Public. They are to achieve a 50% reduction in rents, for contracts to become indefinite, to recover empty, tourist and seasonal homes for residential use, and prohibit speculative purchasesthat is, those that are not for living.
Those attending the demonstration have come from numerous parts of Catalonia, to the point that around 30 columns have gathered at the exit from various parts of the territory and around 15 more formed in the neighborhoods of Barcelona. Driven by the entire housing movement, the mobilization had the support of more than 4,000 organizations.
Among them were labor unions such as the CGT, CCOO, UGT and the members of the Trade Union Board, pro-independence entities such as the ANC and Òmnium Cultural, feminists such as Ca la Dona, environmentalists such as the Catalan Assembly for the Ecosocial Transition, Ecologists in Acció or Greenpeace, and groups such as Las Kellys or the Manters Union. . The Confederació de Associacions Veïnals de Catalunya (Confavc), the Taula del Tercer Sector or the Fòrum Català d’Atenció Primaria, among many other organizations, have also joined.
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