Central Madrid filled with demonstrators on Saturday protesting the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, the 87 year old woman forcibly removed from the Retiro neighborhood home she had lived in for more than seventy years. Authorities put the march at around 25,000 people, while organizers put the figure as high as 300,000.
Spain's main tenants' union shared a video message recorded by Abascal herself ahead of the march, as she has become a symbol of the country's housing crisis. Banners among the crowd read slogans such as "you could be the next Maricarmen," while residents like Enrique Ortega de Miguel summed up the general mood: "It is a struggle to find a place you can afford, then you live in fear of being forced out."
Many demonstrators did not leave Puerta del Sol after the march ended and set up an improvised camp for the night. More people joined on Sunday, including multigenerational families, for a second day of protests demanding stronger tenant protections, measures against rental fraud, and a ban on evictions when no alternative housing is available.
The pressure on the streets coincides with plans from Pedro Sanchez's government, which is expected to approve a package of measures already known informally as the "Maricarmen decree" at its next Cabinet meeting, including automatic renewal of rental contracts and further restrictions on evictions. It remains unclear, however, whether Congress will back the measure, given that the government lacks a parliamentary majority of its own.