Housing crisis
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Thousands of people took to the streets of Malaga city centre on Saturday 9 November to demand action against the current housing crisis. It is the second protest in less than five months, where people marching under the slogan, 'Malaga to live, not to survive', protested against the high demand for homes to purchase or rent, the lack of houses available on the market and criticised the authorities for their inaction.
Saturday's demonstration, called by Malaga para Vivir (Malaga to live), repeated the success of the previous march on 29 June when some 15,000 people took to the streets of the city centre. On Saturday, some 10,000 people took part in the protest without incident, according to National Police.
The demonstration started at 11.40am from the Plaza de la Merced where young people, families and elderly people gathered. Demonstrators then entered the Plaza de la Constitución around 2.30pm where the manifesto was read out. Demonstrators filled the space in a circle and, holding their keys, they raised their hands above their hands in a symbolic move to demand access to decent housing in the city.
"Today the city begins a new round of mobilisations to reinvent Malaga. We want to recover the walks through our streets, not the amusement park that Malaga has become, from where we are expelled and exploited. The process we started on 29J (29 June) is unstoppable, this has only just begun," a spokesperson read out from the manifesto.
Like the previous march, this one was backed by left-wing parties, trade unions and social groups. The demonstration was attended by Socialist spokesperson in Malaga city council, Dani Pérez, as well as representatives of Con Malaga, with Toni Morillas at the head; coordinator of IU Andalucía and deputy of Sumar, Toni Valero; and provincial secretary of CC OO, Fernando Cubillo.
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Dani Pérez demanded that the mayor of the city, Francisco de la Torre, "listen to the thousands of Malaga residents who are crying out for decent and affordable housing". "We are facing a social issue that is forcing thousands of people to leave Malaga every year. Families and young people who cannot build a life in the city where they were born. This can no longer be allowed. It is unsustainable. A city without inhabitants is a city without a future," he said.
"Paco de la Torre's housing policies have failed," Pérez added. "More than 34,000 people have left Malaga in the last five years, there are more than 32,000 people demanding VPO (social housing) and Malaga has become the city where the price of housing to rent and buy has grown the most."
While the mayor was not present at the demonstration, he was the subject of many chants and slogans. "Where is Paquito, Paquito where is he, Paquito is selling what's left of the city," demonstrators chanted, as well as: "Paco, I'm warning you, I'm going to occupy your flat".
The demonstration started in the Plaza de la Merced and its route continued along Calle Granada, Plaza del Siglo, Calle Molina Larios and Plaza de la Marina to the Alameda Principal (passing through the eastbound traffic lanes). Then, the route continued along the streets Puerta del Mar, Atarazanas, Prim, Manuel José García Caparros, Pasillo de Atocha, Pasillo de Santa Isabel, Calle Carretería, Álamos, Cárcer, Casapalma, Plaza Uncibay, Calle Calderería, Plaza Carbón, back along Calle Granada, ending in Plaza de la Constitución.
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The only incident happened shortly after the start of the march, near El Pimpi, where National Police officers prevented a small group of extreme right-wing people from harassing the demonstrators. They chanted: "Housing for the nationalists".
What are the protesters asking for?
They are demanding solutions to an issue of a lack of access to housing in Malaga city. In this second demonstration, the group Malaga para Vivir wanted to go beyond the problem of access to housing and make an amendment to the whole "city model", which "expels neighbours, turns housing into a business and erodes the social fabric". The aim of the protest is, according to them, to confront "the exploitation of rents, job insecurity and the destruction of the territory".
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