The EH Bai coalition announced seven months ago the objective of a demonstration on the day the Commonwealth of Iparralde debated the Local Residential Programme. Since then, many agents have joined the organisation and this 20 November have gathered the first fruits of this mobilisation. 8,000 people met on Saturday in Baiona under the motto “Vivre et se loger au pays [Lives in the village and lives in refuge], not to speculation!”

The organisers have been pleased, and have made it clear that "this is only the beginning" and that they are going to put in place a working framework "open to all". "This collective work, unity and cooperation are nothing more than to deal with the free market and its consequences", could be heard in the final speech. The call is addressed to the electorate: "Public authorities must have a much greater share in the market, especially by creating long-term land reserves and ensuring agricultural land. The right to housing, because it has more priority than having two dwellings, we must continue to fight the second dwellings. Those homes are stolen from people who want to live there."

In total, 32 agents and 2,000 citizens were called to mobilize, asking the elected witnesses for a “brave housing policy” that guarantees the right to take refuge. Among those attending this initiative, which was aimed at the questioning of the electorate, was the President of the Commonwealth, Jean-René Etxegarai. It remains to be seen what solutions are now coming from within the institution.

On the occasion of this mobilization, ARGIA has launched the report "The aggravation of the problem is an interpellation of the elect and a multiplication of the protests", in which the housing problem in Iparralde is explained in detail.

Here is a video with pictures of the demonstration: