Madrid eviction protest draws thousands for Maricarmen

Thousands of people marched through Madrid on Saturday to protest the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from the home where she had lived for decades, calling for stronger protection for tenants.

Images of Abascal being carried from her Madrid flat on a stretcher on Wednesday after police broke down her door have put Spain's housing crisis back in the spotlight ahead of a general election due in 2027.

Protesters marched through central Madrid with slogans and banners calling for measures to curb rising housing costs and make evictions harder. One banner read: “You could be the next Maricarmen.”

In a video posted online by Spain's main tenants' union, Abascal urged Spaniards to support legal changes. “I want what has happened to me to serve so that it does not happen to other people,” she said from hospital, where she has been treated for exhaustion since the eviction.

The tenants' union said Abascal was forced to leave the apartment where she had lived for 70 years after a real estate firm acquired the property and raised the rent by 275 percent to 2,650 euros, about $3,000.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is under growing pressure to act after pledging last year to make housing a government priority. His government is expected to approve a package of measures known as the “Maricarmen decree” at its next cabinet meeting, including automatic renewal of rental contracts and further restrictions on evictions.

It is unclear whether the package will pass parliament, where Sanchez's government lacks a majority. A similar bill was defeated earlier this year.