The 87-year-old woman had withstood four eviction attempts in the past decade. In a final message from her hospital bed, she urged protesters: "Fight!"
Maricarmen Abascal, whose resistance to eviction from her flat in Madrid sparked a growing nationwide protest has died. Her plight brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets and ultimately brought forward a general election after mass demonstrations across the country.
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The elderly woman, who had lived in her flat in Madrid’s Retiro district for 70 years, was eventually evicted at the fourth attempt under the gaze of the media, after she was unable to pay the increased rent. She was admitted to hospital, but she managed to force the property fund that expelled her from her home to back down and allow her to return, following an agreement with the authorities.
“Although a historic agreement was reached that would have allowed her to return to her home, this solution came too late,” the Madrid Tenant’s Union said in a statement Wednesday. “It was an entirely avoidable situation following a harrowing ordeal.”
Protesters who have been camped out in Madrid's iconic Sol square held a minute of silence after hearing news of her passing.
Pedro Sanchez expresses condolences after hearing of Maricarmens's passing
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has expressed his condolences in a post on X. "All my love to Maricarmen’s family and loved ones,” Sánchez said, “A hug as well to all of us who feel this loss as our own today.”
Meanwhile protester are gathering again in Madrid and unions are promoting a general strike. The UGT and CCOO unions 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".
Pedro Sanchez's left-wing minority government last week suffered a bruising legislative defeat when right-wing opposition parties voted down emergency decrees to address the housing crisis.
A fresh round of protests turned violent in Barcelona on Monday night, just hours after Sánchez announced he was dissolving Parliament and calling early elections for Nov. 29.
Spain’s government on Tuesday approved urgent measures to tackle the housing crisis, similar to those Parliament rejected last week.
Rising costs and a housing shortage are pricing many Spaniards out of the housing market, despite strong economic growth in Europe’s fourth-largest economy. The protesters have been demanding stronger tenant protections, measures to combat fraud, and a ban on evictions when alternative housing is unavailable.