Their eviction sparked mass protests - now Maricarmen Abascal has died

The forced eviction from her apartment in Madrid sparked mass protests - now 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal has died. “We regret to announce that Maricarmen died today,” the tenants’ association said on Wednesday. The case sparked a heated political controversy, nationwide protests and eventually new elections.

The protests, which culminated in a protest camp in the center of Madrid, were sparked by the forced eviction of Maricarmen's apartment on September 23rd. The old woman was taken from her apartment in Madrid on a stretcher after an investor increased the rental price by 275 percent to 2,650 euros, according to the tenants' association. Maricarmen had lived in her apartment for more than 70 years.

The case sparked outrage and anger across the country. “We are all Maricarmen,” read posters at the demonstrations afterwards. Their fate had shown in a particularly drastic way the extent of the housing shortage and rent explosion in the country. The tenants' association now declared that Maricarmen's case was a turning point "in the history of this country".

The socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who led a minority government, then wanted to push through his proposals against the housing crisis in parliament, but was unable to achieve a sufficient majority. Last Monday he announced new elections for the end of November. The opposition conservative People's Party PP and the ultra-right party Vox are currently ahead in surveys.

According to surveys, drastically increased rents and a lack of living space have been the number one problem for Spaniards in the country for some time. According to the real estate portal Idealista, average rents in Spain have almost doubled in ten years.