{"id":648220,"date":"2026-10-08T04:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T04:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/648220\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T04:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T04:56:13","slug":"woman-87-whose-eviction-sparked-spain-housing-protests-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/648220\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman (87) whose eviction sparked Spain housing protests dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

AN 87-YEAR-OLD MADRID woman whose eviction triggered nationwide protests over Spain\u2019s chronic housing crisis and a political debate that culminated in early elections died on Wednesday, a tenants\u2019 union said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are sorry to announce that Maricarmen passed away today,\u201d the Madrid Tenants\u2019 Union said in a statement about Maricarmen Abascal, adding that her cause marked \u201ca turning point in the history of this country\u201d.<\/p>\n

Abascal became a symbol of Spain\u2019s housing market on 23 September when she was evicted from her lifelong Madrid home on a stretcher after the real estate firm that owned the apartment drastically hiked the rent.<\/p>\n

\"several-people-leave-candles-and-messages-at-maricarmens-home-on-7-october-2026-in-madrid-spain-maricarmen-abascal-who-had-become-a-symbol-of-the-struggle-for-housing-a-struggle-that-led-to-the\"
\n People leaving messages and candles at her home this evening Alamy<\/p>\n

Alamy\n<\/p>\n

Outrage at her eviction triggered national demonstrations, with hundreds of people camping in Madrid\u2019s Puerta del Sol square in the most symbolic of the protests.<\/p>\n

The movement piled pressure on the minority leftist government to present urgent housing measures, including more restrictions on evictions and the automatic renewal of tenant contracts.<\/p>\n

But their rejection in parliament last week prompted socialist prime minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez to call a snap election for 29 November in which housing will feature prominently.<\/p>\n

\"ipa88886886-madrid-spain-september-23-2026-thousands-of-people-gathered-outside-a-property-owned-by-the-community-of-madrid-in-madrids-chamberi-district-during-a-demonstration-in-support-of-mar\"
\n Large protest outside the property she was evicted from Alamy<\/p>\n

Alamy\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe housing debate is at the centre, but the cost to get here has been too high,\u201d the tenants\u2019 union said of the election, originally due in 2027.<\/p>\n

Abascal had been hospitalised with exhaustion after her eviction, but a deal had been reached with the company that owned her flat allowing her to return home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis solution has come too late. A totally avoidable situation after a torturous process,\u201d added the tenants\u2019 union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AN 87-YEAR-OLD MADRID woman whose eviction triggered nationwide protests over Spain\u2019s chronic housing crisis and a political debate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[46180,42,3662,36556,275063,43,32238,2846,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-648220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-evictions","tag-headlines","tag-housing-crisis","tag-madrid","tag-maricarmen-abascal","tag-news","tag-pedro-sanchez","tag-spain","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}