SPAIN: Madrid’s pro-Palestine Protest & more – 18th Sep 2025

Buenos días from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Spain Update from the 18th of September twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Spain.

To kick things off this week, the final stage of the annual Vuelta a España cycling race was canceled on Sunday the 14th due to pro-Palestinian protests in Madrid.

Around 100,000 demonstrators blocked the cycling race route, breaking through barriers and clashing with police, who used tear gas. Weeks of unrest had already disrupted multiple stages of the competition, including a blocked finish in Bilbao, in the north, and a shortened stage in Galicia in the northwest.

Despite deploying over 1,000 officers, authorities abandoned the finale for safety reasons. Organizers confirmed the suspension, noting earlier concerns about the Israeli team’s participation.

Keeping with the Israel-Palestine conflict, on Monday the 15th, President Pedro Sánchez spoke out in favor of Israel’s exclusion from international sports over its actions in Gaza, comparing it to Russia’s ban after invading Ukraine.

Sánchez argued Israel uses global platforms to whitewash its image. Gideon Saar, Israel’s Foreign Minister, said Sánchez was a disgrace and accused him of inciting the demonstrations in Madrid on Sunday.

Ernest Urtasun, Spain’s Culture Minister, also demanded Israel’s removal from Eurovision, echoing Sánchez’s earlier calls.

Spain’s recognition of Palestinian statehood in twenty twenty-four, coupled with recent accusations of genocide and an arms embargo, has further strained ties with Israel.

More protests, as on Sunday the 14th, around 20,000 people filled Santiago de Compostela’s famous Quintana Square in northwestern Spain to protest the local government's wildfire and forestry policies after blazes devastated areas in Galicia last August.

Farmers, firefighters, environmental groups, and residents have demanded that Alfonso Rueda, Galicia’s president, resign, accusing him of negligence and contempt for rural communities.

In tourism news, on Monday, the 15th, Sánchez announced during a talk that the central government has removed over 53,000 illegal tourist flats from the national rental register in an effort to boost the supply of permanent housing for young people and families.

The Housing Ministry has already ordered platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com to delist more affected properties.

Airbnb has clashed with authorities in the past but welcomed the move as a step toward sustainable growth and reported that 70,000 listings now include official registration numbers.

In a previous episode, we reported on a bill that would shorten the Spanish working week from forty to thirty-seven and a half hours. However, Spain’s parliament blocked the motion on Wednesday the 11th.

President Pedro Sanchez, and Yolanda Díaz, the Labor Minister, and most major trade unions, had backed the bill.

Opposition parties, including the conservative Partido Popular, far-right Vox, and occasional ally Junts, united to form a 178–170 majority, arguing that small businesses and farmers could not absorb the higher costs without risking job losses.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the 16th September, AEMET, Spain’s national weather service, confirmed that this summer was the hottest summer on record since records began in nineteen sixty-one, highlighting the growing impact of fossil fuel-induced climate change across the Mediterranean.

The peak came on the 17th of August, when Jerez de la Frontera in the south recorded almost 115 °F (46°C) during a severe heatwave.

Alongside the extreme heat, Spain faced exceptional dryness and devastating wildfires, particularly in the northwest.

In foreign affairs, on Tuesday, the 16th, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia began their first state visit of twenty twenty-five in Egypt to reinforce political, economic, and cultural ties. The trip focused on boosting Spanish investment in infrastructure, renewable energy, and water management, with projects such as upgrading Cairo’s Metro lines.

Spanish companies Talgo, Acciona, and FCC Aqualia are hoping to gain contracts in the country as Egypt moves toward expanding its renewable energy from 10% to just over 40% by twenty thirty.

The visit also supports Egypt’s tourism revival, which has been hit by regional instability and the political issues stemming from the Gaza-Israel war.

In economic news, want help to buy a property? On Tuesday, the 16th, President Pedro Sánchez announced a new rent-to-buy aid scheme worth 30,000 euros per person to help young people access housing.

The plan will be included in the twenty twenty-six–twenty twenty-nine state housing strategy, and will apply only to tenants in permanently protected social housing. Rent payments will work as down payments deducted from the home’s fixed purchase price, helping tenants eventually buy. Because the housing is permanently protected, prices cannot follow the market, offering protection for buyers.

Experts say the scheme restores incentives to buy, but will ultimately help few people, as Spain’s social housing is only 3% of its total housing stock.

Turning East, on Tuesday the 16th, news outlet El País reported on the difficulty Chinese tariffs are bringing on European pork, specifically threatening Catalunya’s export-driven pork sector, which accounts for nearly half of the country’s pork sales to China.

The tariffs range between 15% and 65%, and have been seen as a retaliation against EU tariffs on Chinese electric cars. Catalan pork exporters sell fresh meat, by-products like liver and intestines, and hams, which are highly valued in China. In twenty twenty-four, Catalunya exported nearly a quarter-of-a-million tons worth nearly 500 million euros.

The Generalitat recently met with the industry earlier this month to push the Spanish government to negotiate with China to mitigate the impact and safeguard one of Catalonia’s key economic sectors.

Back to the capital now, where on Sunday the 14th, Security staff at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport launched an indefinite strike, causing major disruption for travellers across Spain’s busiest airport.

Around 800 workers from the private security firm Trablisa protested over pay, working conditions, and excessive workloads, citing a breakdown in negotiations with management. The industrial action has led to extensive queues, particularly at Terminal 4, with some passengers reporting wait times of up to ninety minutes.

Authorities are monitoring the situation, but no resolution has been reached yet, and the strike’s indefinite nature leaves uncertainty over how long travel disruptions will continue.

In the south, communities are rethinking how to care for their animal populations. On Tuesday, the 16th, the small Malaga town of Villanueva de Algaidas approved a new protocol to manage its street cat colonies.

The town’s plan for its huge wild cat community centers on the CER method of capture, sterilization, and return, which the council says is the most effective and humane approach to controlling cat populations.

Additional measures include public awareness campaigns and workshops to combat abandonment and mistreatment.

The Valencian regional government announced on Tuesday, the 16th, that the iconic beach bars, or chiringuitos, on Malvarrosa Beach are set for a major transformation.

Local families informally opened them in the nineteen fifties and sixties, but many are now run-down and difficult to maintain, prompting plans to replace them with lighter aluminium-and-glass structures.

After years of delays caused by coastal regulations and planning hurdles, work will finally begin on the 22nd of September with the demolition of El Bobo, a family-run eatery founded in nineteen sixty-six.

The new designs will feature expanded kitchens and bathrooms, first-floor dining areas with panoramic sea views, and renewable energy systems. All while preserving the culinary traditions that made the chiringuitos beloved fixtures of the Mediterranean coast.

Ending on a speedy story, on Tuesday the 16th, news publication Viente Minutos reported on Spain's illegal street racing scene and how it has surged across the country, from Madrid’s busy streets to industrial estates in Salamanca in the west, Burgos in the center, and La Rioja, in northern Spain.

Mirroring the infamous Fast & Furious film franchise, young drivers, mostly in their late teens and early twenties, organize secret night meets using encrypted apps and last-minute announcements to evade police. Participants race rental cars and highly tuned vehicles, film and share clips on social media.

Authorities have arrested dozens in recent raids, but police struggle to stop the racing altogether because gatherings disperse before officers arrive. The police have warned that reckless driving can carry penalties up to five years, but so far, those threats haven’t stopped the young racers.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Don’t forget that we do many other updates. We’ve got country and non-country updates, including the Arctic, Ocean, and Multilateral shows.

Check the full list with the link in the show notes.

¡Hasta la próxima!