Death of evicted 87-year-old Maricarmen fuels Spain's housing protests before 29 November vote

The eviction and death

María del Carmen Abascal, known as Maricarmen, was 87 and had lived for seven decades in a sixth-floor apartment near Madrid's Retiro park. She was evicted on 23 September, and AP reported that police carried her, a wheelchair user, on a stretcher from the home. According to Reuters, she had been hospitalised for severe anxiety and exhaustion since the eviction. She died on Wednesday, 7 October, in the hospital where she had been taken, and her lawyer did not disclose a cause of death. Rai reported that an investment fund had bought the building, that Abascal lost a long legal battle against a rent increase out of proportion to her pension, and that she had reached an agreement to return home from hospital before she died.

Protests in the squares

Around 1,000 people have camped in Puerta del Sol for two weeks, AP reported, while the New York Times counted hundreds of tents set up since the eviction. Protesters chanted that she had been "murdered" by the greed of her landlords, and one sign read "These are not deaths, they are murders." AP reported that many protesters believe the eviction caused her death. María Holgado, a 28-year-old receptionist camping in the square, said Maricarmen was the flame that led the camp-in, and that her death would give protesters more energy to keep demanding their rights. Thousands marched on Thursday from Puerta del Sol toward her former home, according to Rai.

Thursday's march

The Delegación del Gobierno put the Madrid march at 20,000 people, LaSexta reported, while Rai cited at least 20,000 according to government sources. Members of the Sindicato de Inquilinas, the tenants' union, wore orange vests and carried a wreath of orange flowers with a white banner reading "We will keep fighting for you." At her former building on Alcalde Sainz de Baranda 46, the crowd held a minute of silence, lit phone torches, then applauded and chanted "Maricarmen lives, the struggle continues." LaSexta reported that marchers also paused for silences in front of Madrid's city hall and at the Puerta de Alcalá.

Political fallout

Reuters reported that Spanish politicians traded blame on Thursday, with left-leaning parties criticising the conservatives who had shot down decrees with housing measures aimed at curbing soaring rents. Right-wingers said the leftist central government had proven unable to tackle the crisis. In Madrid's regional assembly, the Popular Party did not back a joint minute of silence in the plenary session, ANSA reported, saying it would not contribute to its political use. Progressive councillors held an improvised minute of silence, and the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, responded:

You despise Maricarmen's memory so much that you observed a minute of silence lasting only 40 seconds.

Rai reported that the government lost two housing decrees in Parliament to a rare centre-right majority, after Junts per Catalunya, a Catalan party Rai describes as tied to property owners, joined votes against them. Sánchez then called the snap election for 29 November.

Housing context

The New York Times reported that only about 20 percent of Spaniards rent their homes, and that the share has grown as homeownership slides further out of reach. Citing an analysis by El País, the paper said rents have risen 87 percent since 2015, while salaries have climbed only 28 percent. Many young Spaniards stay in their parents' homes into their 30s, and the paper interviewed Alejandra Osés, 22, who shares a Madrid apartment that rents for €1,500 a month, or about $1,680.

What comes next

Sánchez has portrayed the election as a chance for his left-wing bloc to win a majority that would tackle the housing crisis, the New York Times reported. It remains unclear whether the issue will sway enough voters, because conservative and far-right parties frame the vote as a referendum on Sánchez himself. Protesters say they will keep demanding their rights, and the camp in Puerta del Sol remains. Handwritten notes and a drawing of a black heart are still taped to the door of Abascal's former home.