MADRID, Nov 3 (Reuters) – Spanish police removed remaining protesters and tents from Madrid’s main square early on Tuesday, officials said, after most of the people demonstrating against soaring rents, home shortages and evictions had already left voluntarily.
The pre-dawn operation ended a five-week encampment in the Puerta del Sol square that had become a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis and contributed to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s decision to call a snap general election for November 29.
The protests were sparked by the eviction of an 87-year-old woman, who later died, with marches called by tenants’ unions held across Spain.
Similar camps sprang up in squares in other major Spanish cities, as well as in neighbouring Portugal. The one in Sol grew into a miniature city, with its own named “streets”, information stands, cultural activities and food distribution.
Riot police moved in to clear the camp of its remaining 334 occupants at around 3 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Tuesday and made two arrests for disobedience and resisting officers, the office of the central government’s representative in Madrid said in a statement.
The operation involved some 400 police, along with firefighters and social services, it said.
Protesters said on their Telegram messaging channel that the clearing of the camp had been violent and that several campers were injured after being beaten and attacked with pepper spray.
The government said in a separate statement that there had been no violence or disturbances.
Reuters footage showed city workers cleaning the square with water hoses, scrubbing graffiti from statues and disposing of the large plastic tarps strung between lamp posts.
On October 30, the campers’ main representatives said they were dissolving their organising committees as their original demand had been met after the government passed several housing measures.
Instead, they planned to focus on a general strike over housing rights and cost of living called for November 11.
According to the government, a large number of the people still sleeping there were homeless or belonged to other vulnerable groups.
(Reporting by David Latona and Corina Pons; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Sharon Singleton)
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