Police scuffled with protesters in Madrid during a general strike on Wednesday. Officers in riot gear beat protesters with batons and pinned one protester to the ground. Police vehicles were deployed to clear the streets of Gran Via boulevard which the protesters were blocking.

Spanish workers went on a general strike, enduring stormy weather to set up picket lines in a mass protest against the country's housing affordability crisis less than three weeks before a snap general election. The walkout is backed by Spain's two largest unions, UGT and CCOO, representing more than a million workers, as well as tenants' associations angry about rising rents and evictions.