Thousands march in Madrid after 87-year-old woman evicted from lifelong home

Thousands of protesters marched in Madrid to decry the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, a case that has highlighted Spain's housing crisis and prompted calls for stronger tenant protections.

The eviction, prompted by a 275% rent increase, has sparked widespread outrage and marked a turning point, with demonstrators demanding measures to curb rising housing costs and prevent evictions.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez faces mounting pressure to address the crisis, with the government expected to propose the "Maricarmen decree" to bolster tenant rights, despite uncertain parliamentary support.

The Bank of Spain notes a significant housing shortage exacerbated by high demand, especially in urban areas.

MADRID, Sept 27 — Thousands of people marched through Madrid yesterday to protest the eviction earlier this week of an 87-year-old woman from her lifelong home, calling for greater protection for tenants.

Images of Maricarmen Abascal being carried from her Madrid flat on a stretcher on Wednesday after police broke down her door have thrust Spain’s housing crisis back into the spotlight ahead of a general election due in 2027.

Protesters rattled keys, blew whistles, chanted slogans and held banners calling for measures to curb rising housing costs and make evictions more difficult as they marched through central Madrid.

“You could be the next Maricarmen,” read one banner.

Enrique Ortega de Miguel, a 38-year-old graphic designer who lives with his mother, said the housing market in Spain was “impossible”.

“It is a struggle to find a place you can afford, then you live in fear of being forced out,” he told AFP at the protest.

Government authorities put the turnout at around 25,000, while organisers of the protest said 300,000 participated.

“Maricarmen’s eviction has caused outrage and marks a turning point,” Alicia del Rio, spokesman for the Madrid Tenants’ Union, told reporters at the start of the march which ended outside parliament.

Abascal, who has become a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis, urged Spaniards to join the protest in a video message posted online just hours before it got underway.

“I want what has happened to me to serve so that it does not happen to other people,” she said from hospital, where she has been treated for exhaustion since her eviction.

“I want it to encourage people to fight and to help change the laws that have allowed me to be evicted,” she added in the video, posted by the tenants’ union.

Abascal was forced to leave the apartment where she had lived for 70 years after a real estate firm acquired the property and raised the rent by 275 per cent to €2,650 (RM12,316), according to the union.

Irene Lopez, a 33-year-old engineer, said the situation “has become unsustainable”.

“There are people who can’t afford to live in cities, rents are out of step with salaries,” she told AFP, describing the eviction of Maricarmen as “the last straw”.

Another protester, Maricarmen Arnedo, a 76-year-old pensioner, said while older people were being forced out of their homes, “young people can’t move out of their parents’ homes”.

“We want house prices and rents to come down, because I’m fed up with washing the underpants of my 53-year-old son,” she added.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who last year pledged to make housing a government priority, is under growing pressure to act. There have been regular protests across Spain since Abascal’s eviction.

He has called Abascal’s eviction a “social tragedy that we cannot accept”.

The government is expected to approve a package of measures dubbed the “Maricarmen decree” at its next cabinet meeting, including the automatic renewal of rental contracts and further restrictions on evictions.

But it is unclear whether the package will be approved by parliament, where Sanchez’s government lacks a majority.

While a similar bill was defeated earlier this year, Abascal’s case has increased pressure on political parties to act.

The Bank of Spain estimates the country of around 50 million people is short of 700,000 homes, based on the gap between demand and new construction.

Spain has little public housing, while rents have been driven up by increased demand, including from tourism and population growth linked to immigration, analysts say. — AFP

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数千名抗议者在马德里游行，谴责 87 岁的玛丽卡门·阿巴斯卡尔被驱逐一事。该案凸显了西班牙的住房危机，并引发了人们对加强租户保护的呼吁。

此次驱逐事件是由租金上涨 275% 引发的，引发了广泛的愤怒，并标志着一个转折点，示威者要求采取措施遏制不断上涨的住房成本并防止驱逐。

社会党总理佩德罗·桑切斯面临着越来越大的压力，需要解决这场危机。尽管议会支持情况尚不明朗，但政府预计将提出“玛丽卡门法令”来加强租户的权利。

西班牙银行指出，住房短缺问题十分严重，尤其是在城市地区，高需求加剧了这一问题。

马德里，9 月 27 日——昨天，数千人走上马德里街头，抗议本周早些时候一名 87 岁的老妇人被驱逐出她住了一辈子的家，并呼吁加强对租户的保护。

周三，警方破门而入，将玛丽卡门·阿巴斯卡尔用担架从她在马德里的公寓抬了出来。这一幕让西班牙的住房危机再次成为人们关注的焦点，而西班牙将于 2027 年举行大选。

抗议者们摇晃着钥匙，吹着口哨，高喊口号，举着横幅，呼吁采取措施遏制不断上涨的住房成本，并使驱逐变得更加困难，他们游行穿过马德里市中心。

“你可能就是下一个玛丽卡门，”一条横幅上写道。

38 岁的平面设计师恩里克·奥尔特加·德·米格尔与母亲同住，他说西班牙的住房市场“简直不可能”。

“找到一个自己能负担得起的住处已经很不容易了，然后你还得生活在被赶出去的恐惧之中，”他在抗议现场告诉法新社。

政府官方统计的参与人数约为 25,000 人，而抗议活动的组织者则表示有 300,000 人参加。

“玛丽卡门被驱逐一事引起了众怒，标志着一个转折点，”马德里租户联盟发言人艾丽西亚·德尔·里奥在游行开始时告诉记者，游行最终在议会大厦外结束。

阿巴斯卡尔已成为西班牙住房危机的象征，他在抗议活动开始前几个小时在网上发布了一段视频信息，敦促西班牙人加入抗议活动。

“我希望我所经历的一切能够起到警示作用，让其他人不再遭遇同样的命运，”她在医院里说道。自被驱逐以来，她一直因过度疲劳而在医院接受治疗。

“我希望这能鼓励人们奋起抗争，帮助改变那些导致我被驱逐的法律，”她在租户联盟发布的视频中补充道。

据工会称，一家房地产公司收购了阿巴斯卡尔居住了 70 年的公寓，并将租金提高了 275%，达到 2650 欧元（12316 令吉），阿巴斯卡尔被迫离开这套公寓。

33岁的工程师艾琳·洛佩兹表示，这种情况“已经变得无法持续”。

“有些人负担不起在城市里生活，房租与工资不成比例，”她告诉法新社，并将玛丽卡门被驱逐描述为“压垮骆驼的最后一根稻草”。

另一位抗议者，76岁的退休老人玛丽卡门·阿内多说，老年人被迫离开家园，“年轻人却无法离开父母的家”。

“我们希望房价和租金下降，因为我受够了给我53岁的儿子洗内裤，”她补充道。

去年承诺将住房问题列为政府优先事项的社会党首相佩德罗·桑切斯，如今面临着越来越大的压力，要求他采取行动。自阿巴斯卡尔被驱逐以来，西班牙各地持续爆发抗议活动。

他称阿巴斯卡尔被驱逐是“我们无法接受的社会悲剧”。

预计政府将在下次内阁会议上批准一项被称为“玛丽卡门法令”的一揽子措施，其中包括租赁合同自动续签和进一步限制驱逐。

但目前尚不清楚该方案能否获得议会批准，因为桑切斯政府在议会中没有多数席位。

虽然今年早些时候一项类似的法案被否决了，但阿巴斯卡尔的案件加大了各政党采取行动的压力。

西班牙银行估计，这个拥有约 5000 万人口的国家缺少 70 万套住房，这是根据需求和新建住房之间的差距得出的结论。

分析人士称，西班牙公共住房数量很少，而租金上涨则是由需求增加推动的，其中包括旅游业和与移民相关的人口增长带来的需求。——法新社

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