Housing protest campers in Malaga's Plaza de la Constitución: 'This city is ours and we're not going anywhere'

At the rally the tenants' union organised on Monday, protesters stated that Maricarmen's case had helped to channel their anger and encourage them to take to the streets under the slogan "No more evictions".

Some of the demonstrators pitched 20 tents in the square. They have not announced yet whether they'd continue camping on Tuesday night, as this depends on the decision the political parties will reach.

Tenants' union spokesperson Carmela Olmedo stated that this protest is "an outcry from the people saying 'enough is enough'".

"Enough of the plundering of our lives, enough of being driven out of our neighbourhoods, enough of rent-seeking and speculation being the main problem in our lives," Olmedo said.

The protesters' three main objectives are: "minimum agreements" to ensure that there are no further evictions, open-ended tenancies and an immediate reduction in rent prices, in line with a series of criteria such as the minimum wage.

According to those camping in Malaga, there were a lot of people in the square on Monday evening, but the police "cordoned off the square" and "wouldn't let people in".

The protesters also said they felt blackmailed and threatened. "Obviously, if there were or were to be any eviction, immediately afterwards there would be three times as many of us in the street, because what's happening is out of control and doesn't depend on what the current government decides."

They acknowledged that their decision to take to the streets stemmed from their frustration with evictions and from a feeling of being deceived: "They tried to trick us into believing that vulture funds were coming to generate wealth, wealth that is clearly never shared."

While a decision is still pending on whether to continue the encampment, the participants have called for a large housing demonstration in Malaga at 7pm on Saturday. "For now, we're here because there are more than enough reasons," they said.

They added that they have been working for a long time to organise a general strike for housing and believe the time has come. "We believe that, after what has happened, the unions have no other option but to call a general strike, so we are going to continue working in that direction after the encampment."

Spokesperson for the Un Techo por Derecho platform Ysabel Torralbo pointed out that evictions are extremely serious and not limited to Maricarmen's case in Madrid. She stated that in Malaga there are at least 30 evictions a week.

"An eviction uproots that person's life, because it robs them of the chance to continue living with dignity, because they cannot find solutions and because the authorities have abandoned all these people."

The platform has requested a meeting with the mayor, with the demand "that he resolve these cases to demonstrate that he is committed to respecting people's lives, dignity and the right to housing".

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