At 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, protesters left Puerta del Sol and headed for the Congress of Deputies after 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted. They called for those responsible to be held to account and urged the Government to take urgent measures to protect the right to housing.
The Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid called the demonstration under the slogan "Ni una Maricarmen más". Similar protests took place in 40 cities across Spain, RTVE reported. The march put pressure on lawmakers and turned the case into more than a local dispute in Madrid.
Police carried out the eviction last Wednesday, September 23. Maricarmen, an 87-year-old Madrid resident with a disability, was removed despite hundreds of people protesting outside the apartment and criticism from Spain's government, Reuters reported.
Reuters also reported that she had only 30 minutes to collect her belongings. Social workers helped carry her out on a stretcher, and an ambulance took her away. The apartment is on Alcalde Sainz de Baranda street, where she had lived since 1956.
The dispute had lasted eight years, and the eviction was reportedly the fourth attempt to remove her. Her case has become the immediate focus of a national campaign about rents and contracts, as well as the role institutions play in housing policy. The previous demonstration after the eviction drew 10,000 people, information from central government figures. El País English reported that police closed General Martínez Campos street as the crowd gathered.
The crowd brought its own political language to the streets. Placards called for a rent strike and a general strike. Others said Madrid would become "la tumba del rentismo". Some protesters demanded that vulture funds be expropriated.
Other signs took aim at Madrid's institutions. They included "El ático de Ayuso para Maricarmen" and "Ayuso, Almeida idos a la mierda". Some demonstrators repeated a simpler demand: Maricarmen should be allowed to return.
Alicia del Río, a spokesperson for the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid, called the case a "punto de no retorno" for Spain's housing movement. Before the march, she urged the Government to approve the so-called "real decreto Maricarmen" on Tuesday.
RTVE reported that the union had asked the Cabinet to consider a draft decree. Information from the organisers, it would prevent similar evictions and provide for the automatic renewal of certain rental contracts. Del Río also warned that if the measure does not pass, the Executive would make no sense and should consider whether to continue.
Protesters are linking the Government's credibility to a measure that remains a demand, not an approved rule. They are taking that ultimatum into the parliamentary process.
Maricarmen has also addressed the public in a video released by the union. She urged people to keep fighting for the right to housing and join the protest. Speaking with visible difficulty, she said collective action could secure indefinite contracts and achieve the movement's goals.
An earlier report examined the case as a test for Spain's housing decree. On Saturday, thousands carried the dispute beyond the apartment and through central Madrid toward the doors of Congress.
A separate legal dispute surrounds the campaign. El Debate reported that the apartment's owners filed a complaint in January against the Sindicato de Inquilinas. They alleged coercion, disclosure of personal data and damage to their honour. The same report said Maricarmen had been paying an old regulated rent of 500 euros a month.
The Government is due to decide on Tuesday. Until then, Maricarmen's eviction remains the focus of the housing movement's pressure campaign.
