Spain's first general strike in 14 years turned violent on Wednesday evening, November 11, as clashes erupted between protesters and police in Barcelona and Madrid after a day of mostly peaceful marches over the country's housing crisis — police reported at least 73 arrests nationwide from at least 1,044 incidents linked to the strike, Reuters and the Associated Press reported.

Source: Reuters via AAP News

In Barcelona, Reuters footage showed street furniture set on fire after the main march had ended. The Associated Press reported that after the peaceful march, some younger protesters smashed storefronts of brand-name stores on Passeig de Gracia, the city's main shopping boulevard, set off small bonfires in front of stores — including an Apple store whose entrance was shattered — burned dumpsters and launched fireworks at police who arrived in riot gear and armoured vans.

In Madrid, tensions rose around the central Plaza de España, where riot police used foam bullets, tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters, a Reuters witness said. Police said the 1,044 incidents included blockades of offices and industrial estates and the burning of rubbish containers. The arrest figure had risen through the day — police had reported 49 arrests earlier, before the evening clashes pushed the total to at least 73.

This is the evening escalation of the strike Awaaz Punjab reported earlier on Wednesday — a daytime walkout over rents and evictions, called by the UGT and CCOO unions and tenants' associations, in the first general strike since 2012. The marches themselves were largely peaceful; the violence came after they ended: Read the earlier report: Spain's first general strike in 14 years over housing

How big were the marches? The numbers are disputed

Housing activists said 400,000 marchers filled Barcelona, while the city government said 55,000 turned out behind a huge banner reading “Live. Not Just Survive.” Spanish government officials estimated 120,000 people marched in Madrid despite pouring rain, the AP reported. Unions described the strike as a success; the tenants' union said it still expected participation to reach five million by the end of the day. Spain has around 23 million workers, according to the national statistics institute.

The housing crisis behind the strike

The walkout — under the slogan “Salaries. Housing. Prices.” — was the first general strike whose principal push was born from unrest over housing, the AP reported. Spain has a deficit of about 750,000 homes, set to grow to more than one million by 2028, according to the central bank. The average rent of €1,176 a month — yaani roughly the entire monthly pay of a young worker — is equivalent to about 98.7 percent of a young person's average monthly salary, according to the Youth Council of Spain, and the average rent has almost doubled in the last decade.

Anger reached a boiling point after the eviction last month of an 87-year-old woman, Maricarmen Abascal, from the Madrid flat where she had lived for seven decades. Her subsequent death made her a symbol of Spaniards who cannot dream of owning a home, the AP reported; housing activists used the uproar over her case to call the strike and won union backing. Activists are seeking automatic renewal of leases to protect renters; unions demand more public housing and a new minimum-wage agreement.

What happens next

The strike comes less than three weeks before a snap general election on November 29, which Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called after parliament rejected his government's housing-reform decrees. Sánchez hopes to harness voter resentment over housing, Reuters reported, though his Socialist Party still trails in opinion polls. Analyst Oriol Bartomeus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona told AP the Socialists needed the strike to succeed — and for there not to be any violence — so the campaign could swing back to housing; the evening clashes are therefore politically costly for the government as well as a public-order problem. Two heavy storms, Charles and Bruna, also disrupted the day, with unions suspending demonstrations in the southern port city of Cádiz and other southern cities. Watch next for: final police figures, whether further protest nights follow, and how both blocs use the strike — and the clashes — in the final two weeks of the campaign.