More than 200 tents remain in Madrid's Puerta del Sol, where rain swept across the square as clashes erupted around the housing protest. Renters facing crushing monthly payments joined supporters from across Spain. The camp faced its sharpest test when several media agitators entered the area.
Bertrand Ndongo of Periodista Digital sparked the first major confrontation. Protesters surrounded him and shouted, "Out with the fascists from our neighborhoods!" They pressed in to force him out. The dispute turned chaotic, and pepper spray was used.
About an hour later, YouTuber Borja Escalona faced a similar scene. He stopped his social-media broadcasts, and protesters escorted him from the square as insults and competing shouts filled the area.
Vito Quiles was confronted later. Protesters shouted, "They shall not pass." Policía Municipal and his bodyguards accompanied him out of Puerta del Sol. Several protesters then clashed with his team on calle del Carmen, and the camera operator's equipment fell to the ground.
The incidents revealed how tense the camp had become, but its basic demand remained unchanged. AFP and other outlets gave varying estimates of the number of tents, from roughly 150 to 350. About 600 people were still taking part on Monday. AFP reported that protesters planned to hold the camp until Tuesday, when Spain's government was due to discuss new housing measures. Their aim was to secure a housing decree.
Rain forced organisers and occupants to put up more white tarpaulins and awnings. The camp spread beyond the stone benches, narrowing the route used by passers-by. Demonstrators sang, "Don't lead us out of our neighborhoods." Open-microphone sessions and information assemblies gave different groups time to present their proposals.
Some supporters did not sleep in the tents. Violeta Torres came from Alto de Extremadura with a pink umbrella and words of support for the younger occupants. Rent has taken more than half her income for five years. She rejected the idea that the crisis belongs to one age group or family model: "People have the right to decent housing; young or old, families or not. People."
África Azaceta and her circle said the camp had turned private frustration into collective action. They said one income was not enough to rent alone. Dependence on parents had pushed them to seek a public symbol that could carry the issue beyond complaint. Neighbours, pensioners and passers-by brought coffee and pastries to those who spent the night under the tarpaulins.
The housing dispute had already reached Parliament, as an earlier housing report showed. In Sol, the political argument now plays out amid tents, assemblies and a daily presence in the street. Protesters and the Tenants' Union are also calling for rent freezes and stronger tenant protections, alongside action against fraud and a ban on evictions without alternative accommodation.
Antonia Calvo and Antonio Hernández travelled from Sevilla la Nueva. Their physical condition meant they could not camp. The 70-year-old couple said they had joined the 15 May 2011 movement and returned to Madrid to support younger generations. Antonia said the visitors had come to provoke the protest. The couple also described their support as a defence of their own future.
Violeta Torres made a similar point. She said eight years of government had not stopped many people from being left behind. She rejected the idea that the problem could be reduced to the case of Maricarmen. The 87-year-old's eviction from her Madrid home helped make her case a symbol of the wider housing crisis.
Rent pressure is also evident in Madrid's rental figures. CNN cited Idealista in reporting that average rents rose from 12.8 euros per square metre in August 2016 to 23.3 euros per square metre in August 2026, nearly doubling over the decade. Banco de España estimated the housing shortage at about 550,000 homes last year. Social rental housing accounts for less than 2% of Spain's housing stock, compared with an average of 8% across the European Union.
Congress is deciding whether to act on housing while the camp remains at Spain's kilometre zero. Sol has become a public test of how far rent pressure can push residents into sustained collective action. Images may focus on the provocations, but rain and hostility have not emptied the square.
AP reported that families from several generations had joined the encampment. A Tenants' Union spokesperson said protesters would stay "as long as necessary".
