Death after eviction continues to fuel protests in Spain

Shock and anger

Death after eviction continues to fuel protests in Spain

The fate of an 87-year-old Spanish woman who was taken from her apartment by police has sparked mass protests and new elections. Her death will now harden the fronts even further.

The death of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal two weeks after she was evicted from her apartment in Madrid is in Spain was received with shock and anger. Demonstrators, who have been holding out for days in a protest camp against the housing shortage in the country in Madrid’s central Plaza de Sol square, observed a minute’s silence for the woman whose fate has made her the trigger and symbol of the fight for affordable housing.

Her death now makes her a martyr for many. People lit candles, others held a wake in front of their former home, laid flowers, left written condolences or expressed shock and sadness in front of television cameras.

Hundreds of people marched from the protest camp to the parliament building, where government decrees for more tenant protection failed on Friday due to the majority of conservative and right-wing populist parties. The left-wing head of government Pedro Sánchez therefore scheduled new elections for November 29th on Monday. “These are not deaths, these are murders” and “murderers, murderers, murderers,” chanted demonstrators at parliament.

“We regret to announce that Maricarmen passed away today,” the tenants’ association announced earlier in the evening. The organization had already assisted the woman before she was taken by the police from the apartment in Madrid where she had lived for 70 years on September 23rd after a years-long battle with her landlord. “The real estate speculators killed Maricarmen,” said tenants’ association spokeswoman Alicia del Río on television.

Since Abascal’s forced eviction, there have been repeated large demonstrations in Spain under the motto “Ni una Maricarmen más” (“Not another Maricarmen”). The unions fired one General strike which is supposed to paralyze the country on November 11th. “How sad. We deeply regret this news and the pain that Maricarmen has suffered over these years. A hug and all our love for the family and loved ones,” wrote the CCOO trade union federation on the X platform.

In view of the outrage over the woman’s fate, there was even an agreement with the landlord about returning to the apartment. According to her lawyer Beatriz Duro, the signing of a new tenancy agreement with a term of eight years was imminent.

Abascal was taken directly from her apartment to a hospital two weeks ago. Already very weak, she turned to the Spaniards from the hospital. “I didn’t manage to defend my house, but I fought so that others would also fight for what was right for them,” she said from her hospital bed.