The Tenants Union maintains the camping in Sol waiting for the 'Royal Maricarmen Decree'

In front of 17 video cameras placed on tripods and distributed at two heights thanks to a bench located in front of the nose of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree of the iconic Madrid statue, the spokespersons of the Tenants' Union have cleared up this Tuesday one of the main unknowns about the future of the protest in Puerta del Sol. The camp will remain, at least, until they know and analyze "the fine print" of the so-called "Royal Decree Maricarmen". "We are giving the Government a historic challenge," said Alicia del Río.

The expectation was maximum during the minutes prior to the appearance. While cameras, photographers and journalists waited for the statements to begin, isolated cheers could be heard from different points of the camp. The Government's announcement that the requested measures will be articulated through two royal decrees, and not through just one, has focused much of the spokespersons' intervention.

"Right now we find ourselves with all eyes on waiting for the specific text, because we know that it is in the small print where they have always tried to sneak in favoring rentiers instead of favoring people," Del Río warned. The spokesperson has assured that the mobilization will continue as long as the final content is not known: "All eyes are on the writing of that specific text."

Valeria Racu, also spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants' Union, has rejected the possibility of the Executive dividing the package of measures. "We are seeing once again a tactic that we are already getting too used to: the divide and conquer tactic," he stated. In his opinion, fragmenting the initiative would mean "tearing up the package and then giving away a few crumbs" and forcing social movements to "celebrate things that we know are not really going to have an impact on people's lives."

"We are talking about minimum measures to mark a before and after in the fight for housing and the fight against rentism and speculation in this country," Racu continued. "That perhaps it would be broken into two decrees would be a real shame. That would be, once again, playing the electoral campaign."

The Tenants' Union demands that the measures proposed after Maricarmen's eviction remain grouped in a single rule. "Maricarmen Royal Decree in its entirety, in a single decree that includes everything we need as a first step to move towards taking housing off the market and for housing to truly be a right as our Constitution says," Racu claimed. "Anything else that comes out will be a false decree and we have always been clear about that."

The spokespersons also do not consider the political announcement of the measures to be sufficient. The immediate continuity of the camping trip will depend on its final wording. "Until we know the decree, until we see the fine print, until we see which commas have been removed and which commas have not been removed, we do not know if it is a farce or it is a true decree as we need it," Racu said.

The movement attributes the incorporation of certain measures to the Executive's agenda to the pressure exerted by Sol. "Not only have we achieved the historic victory that Maricarmen, after being evicted, can return to her home [...], but we are also giving the Government a historic challenge," stated Del Río. "The streets, this encampment, all the encampments that exist right now in the State are giving the Government a historic push to advance the right to housing with measures that were not being contemplated."

Racu used practically the same words minutes later: "We are giving the Government a historic pulse in a way that has not been seen for decades." He has also warned that, regardless of the immediate outcome of the negotiation on the decree, the mobilizations will continue. "This has only just begun," he repeated before recalling that the movement has called state mobilizations for this weekend.

"Beyond that text that we see tomorrow, which as we say has to be the Royal Decree without a single comma changed, this continues," he assured. "They don't have to change anything, just accept what the people are asking for, they are demanding." The spokesperson added that Sol's protest is not an isolated phenomenon and that there are already encampments in other places: "This is not just about the encampment. They are already starting in other parts, there are encampments in other places and no matter what happens."

The awakening in the square

The shops stretched practically from one end of Sol to the other: from the statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree to the equestrian statue of Charles III. The road that ran in front of the headquarters of the Community of Madrid and the pedestrian corridor, also used by authorized vehicles, that passed next to establishments such as Montero and Casa de Diego, were clear. In the rest of the square, early in the morning it was difficult to find a free space.

The day began with the announcement that Maricarmen will be able to return to the home from which she was evicted last week after having lived there for 71 years. "We started a very important day with one of the best news we could receive: Maricarmen will be able to return home after something that should not have happened," Racu said in the morning.

The spokesperson recalled the images of the launch. "We should not have seen those images of an 87-year-old woman being evicted from the house in which she had lived for 71 years, where she simply wanted to live in peace and die in peace." Racu also denounced the police action during the eviction: "There were hundreds of people who defended not only their right to housing, but the right to housing on behalf of everyone, and what we received were sticks, stomping, fingers in the eyes and grabs on the necks."

The return, he specified, will still depend on the decision of the affected person herself once she knows the specific conditions offered to her. "Maricarmen will be able to return home. Of course, if she wants, because enough of them always having the last word. For once, Maricarmen will have the last word," he said. "When she knows all the conditions of the contract, she will decide."

Racu also rejected that the agreement could be presented as a success for the administrations. "This is not a victory for management, neither for the City Council nor for the Community, which are parties to this conflict," he said, before harshening the reproach: "Rather, guilty parties, directly responsible for this conflict." According to the spokeswoman, both administrations "had refused to negotiate again and again, had refused to mediate again and again, and had refused to offer an alternative time and again."

"Today, either Maricarmen decree or false decree," summarized the spokesperson. "The Government has to decide where it positions itself. It has to make it very clear if the houses are for living or if the houses are for speculation." Even if it goes ahead, the union considers the measure only a first step: "The Maricarmen decree only has to be the beginning, never the end."

"Racist" decree on Ceuta

During his appearance, Racu also linked the housing protest with the other issue that, as he noted, will reach the Council of Ministers this Tuesday: the measures related to returns in Ceuta. The spokesperson described them as a "racist decree" and stated that "the real invaders are the real estate investors." "The culprits will never be the migrants. Those who are destroying our country are already here, they have been here for a long time and they are in offices, in tall buildings and in suits, moving a lot of money and leaving us all on the street simply to do business with our lives," he assured.