Eviction of 87-Year-Old Woman Sparks Madrid Protests
Police removed the 87-year-old tenant after a court backed the landlord’s rent demand, and protesters said the case exposes Spain’s housing crisis.
- On Wednesday, September 23, 2026, police evicted 87-year-old María del Carmen 'Maricarmen' Abascal from her Retiro flat in Madrid after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of property owners. Officers removed her on a stretcher into an ambulance as hundreds protested outside.
- After Urbagestión purchased the building in 2018, the firm cited a legal loophole to raise rent from €500 to €2,650 monthly. Abascal's €1,350 pension proved insufficient, triggering an eight-year legal dispute.
- Hundreds of activists and neighbors organized by Madrid Tenants' Union camped outside to block the eviction. Riot police forcibly cleared the entrance, removing protesters with batons and pepper spray to create a path for court officials.
- Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez blamed regional leader Isabel Díaz Ayuso for protecting corporate landlords over vulnerable citizens. Protesters chanted, "Ayuso's penthouse for Maricarmen," referencing a €6.3 million luxury property scandal linked to the regional government.
- Spain's housing affordability crisis deepens as rental prices have surged over 100% in a decade. A divided parliament remains deadlocked over tenant protections, leaving the left-wing government unable to implement stronger safeguards against speculative investment.
216 Articles
216 Articles
Maricarmen, 87, said goodbye to her home: Madrilène, expelled on Wednesday, became the face of the housing crisis in Spain
Maricarmen, the 87-year-old woman evicted after living seven decades on the same floor, was on a subrogated lease.
By Pau Mosquera, CNN en Español If there is a name that has resounded strongly in Spain these last 48 hours is that of Maricarmen. Mentioning it evokes a story of indignation that, at the same time, has awakened a great wave of spontaneous solidarity in different cities and puts it at the center of the question
Spain’s housing crisis in spotlight with eviction of pensioner, 87
The eviction of an 87-year-old from her Madrid home has highlighted a political paralysis that has thwarted efforts to resolve Spain’s chronic housing crisis, fuelling debate before next year’s election. Maricarmen Abascal’s 70-year stay at her home in upmarket central Madrid ended on Wednesday when she left escorted on a stretcher, flanked by protesters on one side and police on the other – a traumatic event broadcast live on TV. Unable to affo…
Unable to pay a rent multiplied by five, the disabled pensioner was evicted on Wednesday 23 September from the apartment where she had lived for seventy and eleven years. Spain is indignant of this consequence of the deregulation of the housing market, due in particular to overtourism.
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