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World

Thousands march through Madrid over 87-year-old's eviction as housing crisis boils

Thousands marched through Madrid on Saturday over the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, demanding stronger tenant protections as Spain's housing crisis takes centre stage ahead of a 2027 general election.

By Sarah Whitfield · · 1 min read

Thousands marched through Madrid on Saturday demanding tenant protections, after the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her lifelong home.

Images of Abascal carried from her flat on a stretcher on Wednesday have thrust Spain’s housing crisis into the spotlight ahead of a general election due in 2027. Protesters held banners reading “You could be the next Maricarmen” as they marched to parliament.

Authorities put the crowd at around 25,000; organisers, the Madrid Tenants’ Union, said 300,000. Union spokesman Alicia del Rio said the eviction “has caused outrage and marks a turning point”.

Abascal, hospitalised with exhaustion since her eviction, urged Spaniards to join the protest in a video message posted before it began: “I want what has happened to me to serve so that it does not happen to other people.”

The union says Abascal was forced to leave the apartment where she had lived for 70 years after a real estate firm raised the rent by 275 per cent to 2,650 euros ($3,000).

PM Pedro Sanchez called the eviction a “social tragedy that we cannot accept”. His government is expected to approve a “Maricarmen decree” at its next cabinet meeting, though it may fail in parliament: the government lacks a majority and a similar bill was defeated earlier this year.

Enrique Ortega de Miguel, 38, called Spain’s housing market “impossible”. After the rally, some activists set up a protest camp at Puerta del Sol, AFP reported. The Bank of Spain estimates the country is short of 700,000 homes.

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