Spain's parliament rejects housing bill as protests continue

Spain 's parliament has narrowly voted down a pair of emergency government decrees aiming to quell widespread protests against rising rental costs for housing.

Hundreds of protesters were gathered outside the parliament in Madrid amid the marathon debate culminating in a pair of votes on Friday. They yelled "shame" and "your profits, our misery," as news of the measures being quashed filtered through.

Spain has been gripped by protests for around a week , including a tent city set up in central Madrid, ignited by the eviction of an 87-year-old pensioner from her apartment that threw the more longstanding issue of unaffordable housing costs into sharp focus.

Left-leaning Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez leads a minority government in Spain and so relies on opposition support to legislate.

Sanchez spoke at the close of a marathon 5-hour debate in the Chamber of Deputies ahead of the vote, urging members: "Do the right thing, or history will judge you, and sooner than you think."

One Catalan party that sometimes supports Sanchez's government, the economically right-leaning Junts group, joined the opposition in voting down the measures.

The first emergency decree, which the government said would stop evictions of vulnerable people, make real estate speculation harder and provide tax incentives to encourage renting, failed by a narrow margin of 178-172.

The second decree, which sought to make residential leases automatically renewable by tenants, fell further short of a majority at 184-166.