15M II in Madrid: Few tents and low turnout at Puerta del Sol

15M II in Madrid: Few tents and low turnout at Puerta del Sol

How many people are actually gathered at the Puerta del Sol? The view from TV cameras differs significantly from what is seen on the ground. What was presented as a new wave of indignation against the housing crisis remained, according to attendees, a dozen or so widely spaced tents, some empty, with lower attendance than close-up shots suggest. Most present were mere curious bystanders attracted by the event, not committed activists.

This diagnosis repeats across various conversations: there is no critical mass. Compared to the original 15M of 2011, this attempt at revival lacks the human volume that made it unstoppable. Without people, the narrative relies solely on television production.

How many tents are at the Sol camp?

The figure cited is no more than 20 tents, distributed with gaps between them and several unoccupied. This arrangement, observers note, aims to create an illusion of greater presence than reality. The comparison with the original 15M is inevitable and unfavorable: then there was a dense, continuous camp; here, a staged set.

The argument is reinforced by a material detail: the tents are all identical, fueling suspicions of coordinated supply rather than spontaneity. The lingering question is who pays for the equipment and why.

Is it a smokescreen to distract from other issues?

One line of analysis argues the timing is not coincidental. The camp coincides with current events in Ceuta and other open fronts, serving to shift media focus. This thesis relies on agenda overlap rather than evidence and should be treated as such: a hypothesis of intent.

Another stream points to a problem of political direction. If the government and its Housing Law (Ley de Vivienda) are blamed for the housing crisis, protests should target Moncloa or the relevant ministry, not the Puerta del Sol. Protesting the executive branch from Madrid's kilometer zero has diffuse logic.

Housing: Build or intervene in the market?

The economic core appears early. One stance argues housing crises have historically been solved by building: releasing land and constructing large-scale protected housing (VPO). From this perspective, critics note the lack of a prominent left-wing voice demanding more VPO, citing a synchronized opinion mechanism avoiding this terrain.

Opposing this is the view that the problem lies in prices and rents, not bricks. The stock of protected housing has shrunk while demand pushes prices up. The result remains the same: rents forcing young people out of cities.

Who stands behind the tenants' union?

The composition of organizers raises doubts. It is suggested that the Student Union (Sindicato de Estudiantes) has an average age far removed from students, and that the Socialist Youth Coordinator holds migration positions alienating the broader electorate. Hence the conclusion that failure is predetermined.

Also noted is the paradox that a left-wing government faces protest while demands invoke regulations from the 1950s that the PSOE itself repealed in the 1990s. The irony speaks for itself, they say.

Eviction, rain, and the announced end

Police operations enter the equation. Complaints state the Madrid Government Delegation did not dissolve the occupation, considering it peaceful, leaving the decision to the City Council. Police unions immediately denied this, labeling the eviction illegal.

Weather factors did the rest. With the arrival of rain and cold, most expected a dispersal. Revolutions, they joke, last ever shorter: four days of camping and home again. The question now is how many tents remain standing.

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With these elements, 15M II does not seem destined to repeat the original's trajectory. It lacks people, lacks narrative, and has too much choreography.