By David Latona
MADRID, Nov 11 (Reuters) - A general strike by 4 million Spanish workers — around one-fifth of the total workforce — against the country's housing crisis was mostly peaceful on Wednesday, unions said, though by the evening clashes erupted in some areas of Barcelona and Madrid.
Workers endured stormy weather to set up picket lines, with large marches taking place in Madrid, Barcelona and cities across Spain less than three weeks before a snap general election.
In the evening, clashes
between police and some protesters erupted in Barcelona. Reuters footage showed furniture on the street had been set on fire after the main march had ended.
Tensions also rose in Madrid, when riot police used foam bullets, tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters around the central Plaza de España, a Reuters witness said.
Police forces reported at least 73 arrests nationwide by 2100 GMT from at least 1,044 incidents linked to the general strike, including blockades of offices and industrial estates and burning of rubbish containers.
It is the first general strike since workers downed tools in 2012 against austerity measures during the euro zone debt crisis. The walkout is backed by Spain's two largest unions, the General Union of Workers (UGT) and the Workers' Commissions (CCOO), representing more than a million workers, as well as tenants' associations angry about rising rents and evictions.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hopes to harness voter resentment over housing in the November 29 election to shift the attention away from a deadly migration incident in Ceuta and a train crash last month. His government has defended its handling of the disasters but so far, his Socialist Party still trails in opinion polls.
Unions described the strike as a success even though participation was uneven across Spain, with the strongest support in coastal regions where housing pressures have been particularly acute.
SHOPS SHUTTERED
On Madrid's Gran Via, one of the capital's main shopping streets, protesters cheered as stores including Primark, H&M and Pull&Bear drew their shutters amid a heavy riot police presence.
"We're going to close the Mango store," the protesters chanted as they jangled sets of house keys above their heads.
Many shops in Barcelona were also closed and boarded up in anticipation of unrest.
Spain has a deficit of about 750,000 homes, which is set to grow to more than a million by 2028, according to the central bank.
With fewer people able to afford a home, renting has increased sharply, putting pressure on that market. The average rental price of €1,176 ($1,315) is equivalent to about 98.7% of a young person's average monthly salary in Spain, according to the Youth Council of Spain.
"I’m 36 years old and I still can’t move out on my own," said Madrid resident Jesus Gonzalez, who works in a hospital IT department and supports the strike. "Rents just keep going up, house prices just keep going up, and it’s simply impossible."
TURNOUT STRONGEST AT PORTS, AUTO PLANTS
Angela de Miguel, vice president of Spain's main business lobby CEOE, said the strike was counterproductive because small businesses were also affected by the housing crisis, since shortages of homes made recruitment more challenging.
Speaking on state broadcaster TVE, she said the solution was to build more homes and to lower taxes on construction and the home-buying process.
Two heavy storms, dubbed Charles and Bruna, threatened plans for massive protest marches in the afternoon, with unions suspending demonstrations in the southern port city of Cadiz and other cities in the south.
The tenants' union said it still expected participation in the strike to reach 5 million people by the end of the day. Spain has around 23 million workers, according to the national statistics institute.
According to UGT and CCOO, participation in the strike reached 90% at ports and in the automotive sector, with "total stoppages" reported at factories including Volkswagen's in Navarre and SEAT's in Barcelona.
Electricity demand dropped by as much as 15.5% between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. (0900-1000 GMT), according to Spain's grid operator Red Electrica.
LESS IMPACT DUE TO REMOTE WORKING
Barcelona's metro said no trains would run outside peak commuting hours, while Madrid's metro said peak-hour usage was down 42% compared to the same period last week.
However, with more people able to work remotely and the increasing weight of services in Spain’s economy, the impact of the strike is likely to be less pronounced than in previous years, according to Miguel Cardoso, chief economist at BBVA Research. He estimated that the strike could shave 0.1% to 0.2% off Spain’s annual gross domestic product.
Spain's fast-growing hospitality and finance industries are less unionised than the public and industrial sectors.
Unions said they would file a criminal complaint against what they described as a “disproportionate” response during a police operation involving tear gas and batons that injured 20 protesters. The Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The strike follows weeks of demonstrations provoked by the eviction and subsequent death of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid.
Those protests, along with parliament's rejection last month of government decrees aimed at curbing evictions and limiting rent pressures, prompted Sanchez to call the snap election.
(Reporting by David Latona, Andrei Khalip, Emma Pinedo, Jesus Aguado, Pietro Lombardi and Mireia Merino; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Peter Wilkinson, Kate Mayberry, Toby Chopra and Aurora Ellis)
