By Corina Pons
MADRID, Sept 23 (Reuters) – Police evicted an 87-year-old woman on Wednesday from her Madrid home of more than seven decades despite hundreds of people protesting outside and the government criticising the eviction order, in a dramatic new flashpoint of Spain’s housing crisis.
After being given just 30 minutes to leave with only essential belongings, Maricarmen Abascal was eventually removed from the building on a stretcher accompanied by social services officials and driven away in an ambulance as supporters chanted “Maricarmen, you’re not alone!” and “Murderers!”
The case highlights mounting pressure on long-term tenants in major Spanish cities, where soaring rents, gentrification and a shortage of affordable housing have fuelled social and political tensions.
The apartment in the capital’s affluent Retiro neighbourhood had been acquired by an investment fund that sought a steep increase in her rent.
Maricarmen’s lawyer, Beatriz Duro, said court officials and representatives of the investment fund, Urbagestion, had refused to suspend the eviction despite a pending court filing, humanitarian appeals and evidence that public authorities were working to secure alternative accommodation.
Urbagestion did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Duro said an anonymous individual had offered to cover the rent payments, but the landlord declined to sign a new lease.
“I’ve lived here for 71 years and I don’t want to leave,” Maricarmen told reporters on the eve of the eviction.
The eviction sparked tense scenes outside the building, where police forcibly removed protesters blocking the entrance. Reuters witnesses saw officers dragging and pushing demonstrators, lifting some by their arms and legs as they cleared the doorway.
Spain remains divided over how to tackle a worsening housing affordability crisis.
The left-wing coalition government has pushed for stronger tenant protections and wider rent controls, but has struggled to secure backing in a divided parliament, while the conservative-led Madrid regional government has favoured a more market-oriented approach.
Madrid’s regional leader, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, is embroiled in a scandal regarding her government’s purchase, via a public real estate agency, of a €6.3 million ($7.2 million) luxury penthouse. The opposition accuses Ayuso of seeking to use the property as her personal residence while bypassing public spending and transparency rules, which she denies.
Referring to that scandal, activists at Wednesday’s eviction shouted: “Ayuso’s penthouse for Maricarmen!”
($1 = 0.8763 euros)
(Writing and additional reporting by Emma Pinedo, editing by Andrei Khalip and Gareth Jones)
