An eviction that jolted Spain into mass street protests has ended in tragedy: Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old Madrid resident whose removal from her home became a flashpoint in the country’s housing crisis, has died, the Madrid tenants’ union said.
Ms Abascal’s case fuelled nationwide anger over soaring rents and insecurity for tenants, helping ignite a political fight that ultimately led to early elections.
“We are sorry to announce that Maricarmen passed away today,” the Madrid Tenants’ Union said in a statement, calling her story “a turning point in the history of this country”.
She was thrust into the centre of Spain’s housing debate on 23 September, when she was evicted from the Madrid apartment where she had lived her entire life. Witnesses and organisers said she was taken out on a stretcher after the real estate firm that owned the flat imposed a sharp rent increase.
The images and accounts of her eviction sparked an outpouring of outrage that spread across Spain. Demonstrations flared in multiple cities, and in the most emblematic action, hundreds of people set up camp in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square.
Trade unions have since announced a nationwide general strike over housing issues on 11 November.
The unions UGT and CCOO urged the population to “mobilise for better salaries, for decent housing and for price controls in the face of inflation that undermines our purchasing power”.
Hundreds of people camped in Puerta del Sol square as part of protests
As the protests grew, the movement intensified pressure on Spain’s minority leftist government to introduce rapid housing reforms. Among the proposals pushed forward were tougher limits on evictions and automatic renewal of tenant contracts.
However, after those measures were voted down in parliament last week, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called a snap election for 29 November, a contest in which housing is expected to be a defining issue.
“A hug as well to all of us who feel this loss as our own today,” Mr Sanchez said in a post on X.
Following her eviction, Ms Abascal was hospitalised for exhaustion. Although an agreement was later reached with the company that owned her apartment allowing her to return, the union said the political moment her case helped create came at a heavy price.
“The housing debate is at the centre, but the cost to get here has been too high,” the tenants’ union said of the election, which had originally been scheduled for 2027.
“This solution has come too late. A totally avoidable situation after a torturous process,” added the tenants’ union.
Angel Victor Torres, Spain’s territorial policy minister, also reacted to the news, saying Ms Maricarmen had come to embody the predicament faced by many families — older people and young adults alike — who are struggling to secure housing or hold on to the homes they already have.
