Eviction of 87-Year-Old Woman Sparks Madrid Protests
Police evicted the 87-year-old after a court fight over a 275% rent hike, and thousands protested Spain’s housing crisis.
- On Wednesday, September 23, 2026, police evicted 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her Retiro flat in Madrid after she lived there for 70 years, removing her on a stretcher as hundreds of protesters clashed with officers outside.
- Investment firm Urbagestión purchased the building in 2018 and invoked a legal loophole to raise Abascal's rent from €500 to €2,650 monthly; Spain's Supreme Court ruled in the firm's favor in March 2026, clearing the path for eviction.
- In June 2026, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights requested the eviction be halted and alternative housing provided, while an anonymous donor offered to cover the rent difference; the landlord rejected both.
- Housing Minister Teresa Rodríguez called the eviction a "sad and dramatic day," while protesters drew sharp comparisons to Regional President Isabel Díaz Ayuso's controversial €6.3 million penthouse purchase, which critics allege was intended for personal use.
- The case has reignited national debate over Spain's housing crisis, where soaring rents, gentrification, and speculative investment funds deepen social tensions and fuel demands for stronger tenant protections and rent controls.
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381 Articles
Carmen Abascal is the most recent example of the housing crisis in Spain; the 87-year-old woman was evicted from where she lived for seven decades.
The images of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal being carried on a stretcher from the Madrid apartment she had lived in for 71 years have sparked outrage across Spain. The new owner of the property wanted to increase the rent from around 500 euros to 2,650 euros a month, while Maricarmen receives around 1,350 euros in pension. But that is not even the main problem. Her eviction has become a symbol of a much wider problem: Spanish rents have risen b…
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online-listing.comEviction of 87-year-old puts Spain’s deepening housing crisis in the spotlight
The eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her home after a massive rent increase sparked mass protests across Spain, highlighting the country's deepening housing affordability crisis.
Expropriations do not only affect the election campaign in Berlin. In the fourth attempt, the Spanish police manage to clear Maricarmen's home. The old woman becomes a national symbol.
The images of the expulsion of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal accentuated the pressure on Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who had committed himself to making housing a government priority.
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