Madrid housing protest camp cleared; 334 removed

Police cleared a large housing protest camp in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square on Tuesday, with the Spanish government's Madrid delegation saying 334 people were removed and two were arrested.

Officers closed off much of the central square in the morning as municipal cleaning staff cleared debris, tents and tarpaulin, AFP journalists saw.

The Madrid delegation said the overnight eviction took place without incident or violence. It said firefighters, social services and 400 national and municipal police officers took part.

Protest organisers said on Telegram that the clearance was a violent police operation and that several people were injured after being hit or because of tear gas. A woman who said she had joined the camp from the start told AFP that anti-riot police dragged people out and hit them, and that she was not allowed to take her belongings.

The camp was set up in September after the eviction of an 87-year-old pensioner from her lifelong Madrid home brought Spain's housing crisis into the centre of public debate. The eviction sparked nationwide protests over housing costs and tenant protections, with tens of thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government later presented housing decrees including curbs on evictions and automatic renewal of tenant contracts. The minority coalition failed to pass the measures in parliament last month, and Sanchez brought forward a general election to November 29.

Housing costs have risen in Spain in recent years. The Bank of Spain estimates the country is short of 700,000 homes, based on the gap between demand and new construction.