Spain's Housing Crisis: The Eviction of Maricarmen Abascal Explained
Maricarmen Abascal, 87, has called on Spaniards to join a demonstration in Madrid on Saturday afternoon, September 26, against evictions.
In a message recorded from her hospital bed, she said "Please, fight" The New York Times. The video, identified by the Times as showing María del Carmen Abascal, repeats the appeal to Spaniards to "fight" The New York Times. She issued the call three days after her removal from the Madrid flat where she had lived for 70 years.
She was evicted on September 23, 2026 Reuters. Abascal is a wheelchair user, and her eviction has fueled anger about Spain's housing crisis NBC News. The apartment is on Calle Alcalde Sainz de Baranda in Madrid's Retiro district Reuters Connect. Police tore down her door to carry out the eviction. She was taken away on a stretcher Reuters.
A large police deployment was mobilized in Madrid so the investment fund holding the property — a firm that buys housing as a business investment — could evict her eldiario.es. Spanish riot police removed a housing activist who was trying to prevent the eviction Reuters. Hundreds of people protested at the scene Reuters.
It was not the first attempt. Abascal faced a third eviction attempt after earlier mobilizations had stalled enforcement eldiario.es. Before the eviction planned for Wednesday, an anonymous woman writer offered to pay 2,150 euros per month to cover the rent increase and avoid the removal eldiario.es.
The owner of the flat is identified as Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión RTVE. After the eviction, the company sent a proposal to the city council so Maricarmen can return home. The proposal is pending. It does not restore her tenancy, or legal right to live there, by itself.
Thousands of people gathered to protest in support of the 87-year-old after her eviction in Madrid ABC News. A tracker by the Spanish public broadcaster listed housing-rights protests linked to the case in 16 cities RTVE. Citizens are demanding approval of a 'decreto Maricarmen,' a proposed order to prohibit evictions eldiario.es.
The broader context here is how a single enforcement became a national shorthand. Abascal had already become widely known before September, in part because of her age, her disability, her length of residence, and the repeated attempts to remove her. The sequence to watch is tight. A municipal channel now holds a return proposal from the owner. A street channel is pressing for a categorical ban under Abascal's name. And a protest calendar, with Abascal herself calling for turnout from a hospital bed, will test whether anger after September 23 converts into sustained pressure or disperses after the weekend.
