Police later used tear gas to disperse demonstrators on Madrid’s Gran Vía, where Protección Civil treated several people, reporter María Escolar said. The clashes took place during Spain’s 24-hour general strike on 11 November 2026, called by the country’s largest unions, CCOO and UGT, alongside other labor organizations and tenants’ groups. Police said 29 people were arrested across Spain in strike-related incidents, including nine in Madrid, NPR reported.
Earlier, Escolar and her colleague Pablo Collantes were reporting live from the strike gathering for 'El Pulso', presented by Verónica Sanz. A National Police officer pushed Escolar from behind, and cameras on the programme recorded the moment. She told viewers an officer had just pushed her; Sanz urged her to take cover. Demonstrations took place in more than 50 locations, including Madrid and Barcelona, as workers protested housing costs and evictions amid rising rents, ahead of a snap election scheduled for 29 November.
Collantes said the journalists were simply doing their job and described the crowd as peaceful. He called the push brutal and said they did not want to become the focus of the coverage. The unions’ campaign paired calls for higher wages to offset declining purchasing power with demands for stronger intervention in the housing market, particularly over rents and evictions. Its slogan was “Salaries. Housing. Prices.”
Escolar later returned to the broadcast from a position where she could continue reporting. She described the police action in the city centre as excessive at times. Images shown during the report depicted officers pressing demonstrators into an increasingly confined space. Reuters reported that CCOO’s Madrid branch said police used pepper spray against pickets and that 13 people needed medical attention; a police spokesperson confirmed an arrest but said chemical spray had been used at a separate picket in Carabanchel.
The Gran Vía incident came amid other reports of police action during the strike, including a separate account of picket incidents that reported accusations against police and an ID check involving Ione Belarra. The unions reported stoppage rates of 90% in the automotive and port sectors, 85% in the meat industry, 82% in waste collection and 75% in energy. The figures were union estimates. The stoppage disrupted transport and halted some port and factory operations.
Escolar said Protección Civil was helping people affected by the police action, including demonstrators exposed to gas and people with cuts to their heads. CNN reported that unions planned to file a criminal complaint over a police operation involving tear gas and batons, which they said left 20 protesters injured.
