Spain protests LIVE: Thousands of furious locals to take to streets as tourism row soars

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Mass demonstrations are planned across Spain (Image: Getty)

Tens of thousands of people across 40 cities in Spain will take to the streets in protest to demand a solution to the country's housing crisis. The protests in major cities and towns including Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca could mark Spain's biggest coordinated rally for housing rights in recent memory. Prices of non-new build homes rose by 11.2% this year, according to The Olive Press, with locals left struggling to buy or rent properties. They have pointed to the 3.8 million homes that lie empty across the country as evidence of overtourism and second home ownership worsening the problem.

Demonstrators are calling for a raft of measures including a drop in rental prices, an outlawing of eviction companies and a prohibition of evicting vulnerable families without alternative housing in place. Marches are set to begin in Madrid and Palma de Mallorca at 12pm local time (11am BST), while a rally is scheduled for 6pm local time (5pm BST) in Barcelona, at 6.30pm (5.30pm BST) in Valencia and in Málaga at 11:30pm local time (10.30pm BST).

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