Vigils and protests in Madrid after death of housing campaign symbol Maricarmen

Campaigners held candlelit vigils in Puerta del Sol and outside her former home, while demonstrators marched towards parliament. The Madrid Tenants’ Union, which announced her death, said an agreement that would have allowed her to return to her flat had arrived too late. ALSO READ: Evicted Madrid pensioner could return home under eight-year rent agreement.

Maricarmen died on Wednesday, two weeks after being removed from her home on a stretcher. She had remained in Madrid’s Gregorio Marañón Hospital since the eviction and never returned to the apartment where she had lived for almost 70 years. ALSO READ: 87-year-old woman evicted from Madrid home after 70 years despite mass protests and offer to pay her rent.

Her case had become a rallying point for people struggling with rising rents, insecure tenancies and the threat of losing their homes. Her death prompted fresh demonstrations in a campaign that has already placed housing at the centre of Spain’s political debate. ALSO READ: Protesters vow to stay in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol as housing camp puts pressure on government. 

Candles in Sol and a march towards parliament

At the protest encampment in Puerta del Sol, news of her death on Wednesday night initially met with disbelief before spreading through the tents by mobile phone. National broadcaster RTVE showed scenes of a brief silence followed by shouts and preparations for marches and vigils.

Later in the night, people gathered around candles across the square. Others continued securing the camp’s tarpaulins against the cold and rain, while new placards reflected the news of Abascal’s death.

Spanish media reported that a small memorial was created opposite the Madrid regional government’s headquarters, with flowers and candles placed beside her photograph. Some of the young people gathered there were crying.

Demonstrators also left Sol for the Congress building, advancing along Calle de San Jerónimo until police prevented them from going further.

A separate vigil took shape in Calle Sainz de Baranda, outside the building from which Maricarmen had been evicted. People placed candles around a tree and left handwritten messages. One read: ‘Thank you for changing Spain’.

An agreement that came too late

The Madrid Tenants’ Union said Maricarmen’s case had marked ‘a turning point in the history of this country’, but condemned the ordeal she had endured before an agreement was reached with the company that owned her home.

‘This solution has come too late. A totally avoidable situation after a torturous process,’ the union said.

Maricarmen was evicted on 23 September from her apartment in Madrid’s Retiro district. Images of the elderly woman being carried out on a stretcher became a powerful symbol of the housing campaign, prompting demonstrations across Spain and the continuing occupation of Puerta del Sol.

The dispute that led to her eviction followed a change in ownership of the property in 2020. There had been four attempts to evict her, with the final operation going ahead despite protesters gathering outside the building overnight. ALSO READ: 87-year-old woman evicted from Madrid home after 70 years despite mass protests and offer to pay her rent.

An agreement was subsequently reached with the owner, Urbagestión, which would have enabled her to return. Her death meant that she never did. ALSO READ: Evicted Madrid pensioner could return home under eight-year rent agreement.

Housing at the centre of the election debate

The protests intensified pressure on Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s minority coalition government to introduce urgent housing protections, including tighter restrictions on evictions and the automatic renewal of tenancy contracts. ALSO READ: Spain’s housing decrees defeated as pressure grows on Sánchez to call snap election. 

Parliament’s rejection of those measures last week preceded Sánchez’s decision to call an early general election for 29 November, bringing forward a vote that had been due in 2027. ALSO READ: Pedro Sánchez calls a general election in Spain for 29 November.

The tenants’ union acknowledged the prominence housing had gained in the political debate, while questioning the human cost.

‘The housing debate is at the centre, but the cost to get here has been too high,’ it said.

For those who gathered in Madrid on Wednesday night, the vigils combined mourning for Maricarmen with demands that the campaign sparked by her eviction lead to lasting protection for others facing the loss of their homes.

Spain’s main trade unions and housing campaign groups have since agreed to hold a general strike against the housing crisis on Wednesday 11 November. ALSO READ: Spain’s housing crisis prompts general strike on 11 November, ahead of election.

ALSO READ: Sánchez revives housing measures with €10bn loan plan as Spain heads towards election.