Protests over Spain housing shortage spread to Madrid and other cities

The widespread protests in the country come a day after lawmakers rejected support measures for tenants.

The demonstrations extend the crisis that has been going on for over a week and was triggered on September 23 by a pensioner being forced to leave his apartment in Madrid.

Madrid's tenants' union is celebrating the success of the protests, estimating the number of participants at 500,000 people in Madrid alone, El País reports. According to the government, 70,000 took part in the demonstration.

"Eight days of people power have done much more than eight years of progressive rule," tenants' union spokesperson Valeria Racu says, according to the newspaper.