An 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked mass protests has died in Spain — AP
Maria del Carmen Abascal, 87, whose eviction from her long-term rental home in Madrid sparked widespread protests across Spain and led to a political crisis, died Wednesday in a hospital.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was among the first to express his condolences on social media after housing activists and Abascal’s lawyer announced her death.
“My thoughts are with Maricarmen’s family and loved ones,” Sánchez wrote.
Spaniards, increasingly dissatisfied with housing costs, periodically take to the streets in major cities, demanding action from lawmakers. However, a new wave of outrage swept through Spain following the events of September 23: on that day, Maricarmen—a woman who used a wheelchair—was carried out on a stretcher from her home, where she had lived for seven decades. This happened after police cordoned off the street and pushed back the protesters. Due to her fragile health, the woman was taken to the hospital.
The woman, known as Maricarmen, has become a symbol of tenants’ struggle against the housing affordability crisis in Spain.
Footage of her eviction, shown on television, spurred thousands of people to take to the streets in Madrid and other cities across the country.
Maricarmen’s attorney, Beatriz Duro, confirmed her death on the Cadena Ser radio station but did not specify the cause. Duro noted that she and the activists were deeply shocked by this tragedy.
It was expected that Maricarmen would return home after being discharged from the hospital. The real estate company, which had initiated the eviction in order to rent out the apartment at a significantly higher price, eventually yielded to intense public pressure and agreed to allow the woman to return to her apartment.
This was reported by the AP.
Spain’s two largest labor unions have called a strike over housing — Al Jazeera English.
