Spain's austerity squatters

Squatting is rare in Spain but it has been on the rise because the 2008 property crash left thousands of buildings empty and the economic recession has led to soaring unemployment and home eviction rates.

The building is one of these ghost developments gathering dust all over Spain.

Most of the occupiers of the flats, which have brand-new wooden floors with sparkling double glazing, have been thrown out of their own homes by landlords or bailiffs after they defaulted on their mortgage or could not pay the rent.

"We're not anti-establishment. We just don't want to live in the streets. With so many buildings like this and so many normal people facing eviction, we hope we inspire others to do the same," says Irma Blanco, 35, (right). Irma and Elena Contreras, 32, are both unemployed.

"I have always fought for people's right to a home, which I think is a fundamental right," said Antonio Buenavida, 57, an M-15 activist who helped set up the squat.

Buenavida makes a gesture of support to Ana Lopez, 67, as she looks out of her window.

In more than 1.7 million homes in Spain every family member is out of work and courts evicted 100,000 mortgage defaulters in 2010, four times the number three years earlier.

"This place has given us hope. Neither my husband nor I will die in the street," said Ana Lopez, 77, eating at a table in the show flat where she lives. The flat, set up to show prospective buyers, now serves as a communal kitchen because it boasts the only stove and refrigerator in the block.

Lopez and her ailing 70-year-old husband claim just over 1,000 euros a month in pensions, though with an increasingly reliant extended family, the aid is stretched thin.

"With that we take care of our two children, who have families of their own and three children between them. None are working and both families have also found flats here," she said.

Lopez, 67, is comforted by hairdresser MariCarmen Angulo (right) and Carmen Ferrer, 56.