Spain sees widespread disruption in first general strike for 14 years

Among those taking part in the general strike was Gonzalo Álvarez, 27, who was visiting different picket lines in central Madrid.

Although he works in sales, he has been volunteering for a housing union that tries to protect tenants and makes them aware of their rights.

The eviction of Maricarmen Abascal at the end of September "was the little fire" that sparked this protest, he told the BBC.

Álvarez knew the 87-year-old, who had faced a tripling of her rent under new landlords, and says he was deeply upset by her treatment.

He rents a small, one-bedroom flat with his girlfriend, a dental hygienist, in the city's southern Arganzuela disrict.