At least 40 Spanish cities joined protests after Maricarmen Abascal was evicted in Madrid. Thousands marched toward Congress, calling for urgent housing measures and government accountability.
At 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, protesters left Puerta del Sol and headed toward the Congress of Deputies. The march followed the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal. Protesters want those responsible held to account. They also want 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, according to RTVE. The route toward Congress put pressure on lawmakers. The case was no longer only a local dispute in Madrid.
That was the point.
The dispute between Maricarmen and the company that owns the apartment had lasted eight years, and the eviction on September 23 was reportedly the fourth attempt to remove her.
Police carried out the eviction last Wednesday, September 23. Maricarmen is an 87-year-old Madrid resident with a disability. Reuters reported that officers removed her despite protests by hundreds of people outside the apartment and criticism from Spain's government.
Reuters also reported that she had only 30 minutes to collect her belongings. Social workers helped carry her out on a stretcher. She was then taken away by ambulance. The apartment is on Alcalde Sainz de Baranda street, where she had lived since 1956.
The dispute had lasted eight years. The eviction was reportedly the fourth attempt to remove her. Her case has now become the immediate focus of a national campaign about rents, contracts and the role of institutions in housing policy.
The previous demonstration after the eviction drew 10,000 people, according to central government figures, and 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 the expropriation of vulture funds.
Other signs targeted 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.
The message was direct.
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. According to 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 have no sense and should consider whether to continue.
The demand has a deadline. Protesters are tying 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 spoken to the public in a video released by the union. She urged people to keep fighting for the right to housing and to join the protest. Speaking with visible difficulty, she said collective action could secure indefinite contracts and achieve the goals set by the movement.
The case was examined in an earlier report as a test for Spain's housing decree. Saturday's march took the dispute beyond the apartment. Thousands carried it through central Madrid and 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 protesters have named a person, a deadline and a specific measure. The Government is due to decide on Tuesday. Until then, Maricarmen's eviction remains the point around which the housing movement is building pressure.
The march is therefore more than a city demonstration. It is a public demand for an immediate institutional response on the right to housing, not another promise.
