Police clear Madrid housing protest camp; demonstrators allege violence

In brief

• Spanish police cleared the remaining housing protest camp on Madrid's Puerta del Sol early on Tuesday.
• Police say the operation passed without clashes, while activists allege violence and report injuries.
• Two protesters were detained during the operation, and the camp had stood on the square since late September.

Police clear the camp

Police in Madrid dismantled the remaining protest camp on Puerta del Sol in the early hours of Tuesday, 3 November, removing the tents from the square in the city centre (В Іспанії поліція розігнала рештки табору протестувальників проти житлової кризи – Європейська правда) (Protestcamp in Madrid: Polizei räumt Protestcamp gegen Wohnungsnot in Madrid – ZEIT ONLINE) (Ispanijos pareigūnai išardė protestuotojų stovyklą Madride – LRT). Most demonstrators had already left the site on their own before officers moved in.

Accounts differ

Police said the operation passed without clashes (Policie vyklidila tábor za dostupné bydlení v Madridu. Demonstranti mluví o násilí – iDNES.cz). Activists reject that description. They accuse officers of a violent intervention, and organizers said on Telegram that the action caused numerous injuries (Smantellato a Madrid 'accampamento per la casa' – ANSA). Demonstrators also described the use of tear gas. Two protesters were detained.

Background

The camp, set up against housing costs, had been on the square since the end of September. The protest was part of a wider campaign over housing affordability in Spain, which has drawn the attention of activists in other European countries.

What comes next

The materials do not say whether the protest movement plans to return to the square or to pursue complaints over the conduct of the operation.