Housing crisis protest in Madrid: Thousands protested evictions

Yesterday thousands of people marched through the streets of Madrid to protest the eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her lifelong home earlier this week and to demand greater protection for tenants.

The images of Maricarmen Abascal, who was carried on a stretcher from her apartment in Madrid, where the police broke the door and entered on Wednesday, brought Spain's housing crisis to the agenda again before the general elections planned to be held in 2027.

Protesters held banners as they marched in central Madrid demanding measures be taken to make evacuations more difficult.

THERE IS A DEFICIT OF HALF A MILLION HOUSING

While government officials announced the participation as approximately 25 thousand, the organizers of the protest said that 300 thousand people participated.

"Maricarmen's eviction caused great anger and was a turning point," Alicia del Rio, spokesperson of the Madrid Tenants Union, told reporters at the beginning of the march that ended in front of the parliament building.

The Bank of Spain estimated that there was a housing deficit of approximately 550 thousand in the country last year, and a significant part of this deficit occurred in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.