Spain housing vote in doubt as protesters march

Spanish lawmakers were due to vote Friday on two government housing decrees introduced after protests over the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, but the measures faced possible defeat after the Catalan separatist party Junts said it would oppose them.

The parliamentary session began at 11:00 am in Madrid, with debate expected before a vote later in the sitting. Police vans and barriers surrounded parliament as protesters from a nearby housing protest camp marched toward the building.

Tenants' unions had urged supporters to pressure lawmakers to approve the measures. The left-wing coalition government adopted the decrees on Tuesday after protests sparked by Abascal's eviction last week.

Abascal, 87, was forced to leave the Madrid flat where she had lived for around seven decades after it was acquired by an investment company that sought to raise her rent by 275 percent. She is due to return to the flat under a deal reached Monday with its owner, but protest camps have continued in Madrid and other cities.

The decrees include automatic renewal of rental contracts when they expire, measures aimed at restricting evictions of vulnerable tenants and steps targeting investment firms that buy properties at low prices in pursuit of higher returns.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged lawmakers to support the measures, saying parties had to choose whether they were with the social majority or with speculators. The conservative Popular Party and far-right Vox also said they would vote against the decrees.

Junts argued that the measures unfairly treat small landlords who rely on rental income in the same way as profit-driven real-estate companies, and warned they could have negative and irreversible effects. Sanchez's government relies on Junts's seven lawmakers to pass legislation in Spain's fragmented parliament.