Protesters clash with police at Barcelona real estate fair

Housing activists, environmental groups and unions mobilised in the wake of souring housing costs.

Transcript

00:00Police clashed with around 100 protesters in Barcelona who gathered in the city to protest

00:07against a real estate fair, the district.

00:11Officers charged at the group when they tried to approach the fairgrounds.

00:14Eventually, they managed to enter the complex.

00:19At the heart of their concerns are soaring housing costs.

00:22Over the past 10 years, rents have risen by 68 percent and the cost of buying a house

00:27increased by 38 percent.

00:31More than 100 unions and organizations from the housing movement and the environmental

00:35movement had called on people to take action.

00:39Apartments for tourists have played a part in straining the local housing market.

00:43Over the summer, protesters in Barcelona have also targeted tourists in the city, spraying

00:48them with water pistols, saying tourists go home.

00:52In June, Barcelona's mayor announced that more than 10,000 tourist apartment rentals

00:56will be banned by 2028.