About 150 homeless people have been camping for three months outside Madrid's city hall and nearby tourist areas to demand secure housing.

Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida has criticized the movement, saying "public space cannot be illegally occupied" as a means of protest, but would not say if the authorities planned to remove the camp. His deputy Begona Villacis told reporters the authorities had met the protesters and that "only 12 of them are really homeless".

In Spain, there are 33,000 homeless people, according to data from the healthcare and social welfare ministry.