Thousands of protesters across Spain hit the streets on Saturday to condemn the growing number of home evictions in this economic crisis.  Four people are known to have committed suicide in response to eviction notices.

Earlier in the week, The Spanish Parliament buckled and agreed to consider a popular reform bill to protect poor homeowners from the national scourge.  Lawmakers had been presented with a petition containing more than 1.4 million signatures.

Leaders of the group Platform for Mortgage Victims (PAH) organized Saturday's nationwide protests to pressure members of parliament to quickly pass the law.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been evicted from their homes in the economic crisis beginning in 2008.  Spain’s unemployment rate is 26 percent, leaving many people simply unable to pay mortgages on homes whose values have crashed.