PNN – Thousands of people in Spain protested on Saturday to demand the reduction of housing permit fees and the improvement of living conditions.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, citing Reuters, the organizers announced the number of protesters in Barcelona to be 100,000, but the Barcelona police said that 22,000 people participated in the protests.
Smaller protests were also held in various regions of Catalonia and the regions of Asturias in the north and Jerez de la Frontera in the south of Spain.
Housing has become one of the biggest problems in Spain and the increase in the number of tourists has fueled it. Landlords prefer to let their homes short-term to tourists who pay significant money for their short stay due to increased housing permits.
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Housing rent in Barcelona increased by 70% in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year.
To prevent the crisis from intensifying, the Spanish government limited short-term or vacation rentals in July.
This year, massive protests against the illegal arrival of tourists were held in the cities of Madrid, Malaga and the Canary Islands.
Last year, 16 million tourists went to the Canary Islands, which is seven times the population of the region of 2.2 million people.