The organizers of the demonstration estimated the turnout at around 300,000. people. According to the authorities, about 25,000 people participated in the protest. people.
Demonstrators gathered in Puerta del Sol, where the Madrid regional government is located. Then they walked near the town hall and parliament. They demanded stronger protection for tenants. According to the ABC daily, after the march, hundreds of people pitched tents on Puerta del Sol. The tenants' union called for the occupation of the square to defend the right to housing.
Eviction after a long-term dispute
The eviction of the 87-year-old took place on September 23, after eight years of court proceedings. The event was widely reported by the Spanish media. Abascal was carried out of the apartment on a stretcher by paramedics.
The woman used an old lease agreement that protected her from large increases and allowed her to pay about EUR 500 a month. After the building was purchased by an investment fund, the rent was to increase to EUR 1,650 - approximately EUR 300 more than the 87-year-old's pension.
The eviction was accompanied by a demonstration; the police used pepper spray and detained some of the participants. Several hundred people also protested in front of the fund's headquarters in Valladolid.
A symbol of a broader problem
The case of Maricarmen Abascal has become a symbol of growing housing problems in Spain, a few months before the regional and local elections scheduled for May.
Housing is increasingly becoming a mechanism that reproduces social inequalities (...). This helps explain why a single case like this can have such a strong symbolic resonance, said Bazaga Fernandez, a housing policy expert at the University of Madrid.
According to the CIS study from February 2026, 27.6 percent respondents mentioned housing as one of the problems that directly concern them.
Interestingly, Spain, compared to other countries, has many regulations protecting tenants, including: against large rent increases.
Based on the law in force from 2023, Spanish autonomous communities may, if apartment prices or rents increase faster than residents' incomes, recognize a given area as a special zone in which rent increases can be administratively limited when concluding new contracts. Moreover, the rent can only be increased by the state renovation rate. This forces the owners of many rental apartments to offer more favorable rental conditions.
The total amount of the deposit is generally the equivalent of two months' rent (one of which must be deposited in a special account of the autonomous community). However, additional security measures are allowed, which means that in order to move into a rented apartment, the tenant must, in practice, pay the equivalent of three or four months' rent in advance.
As a result, the relatively extensive legal framework does not guarantee affordable access to housing, said Bazaga Fernandez.
The eviction of Maricarmen Abascal was commented on by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who argued during his stay in the US that it could have been avoided. He pointed to the conservative opposition, which - as he said - blocked the government regulation providing, among other things, extension of protection against evictions.
The words of the head of government were criticized. El Mundo said Sanchez had "done nothing" on housing for eight years. In turn, "El Pais" wrote that the housing market has become detached from the financial capabilities of the Spanish middle class, and premises have become primarily the subject of speculation.
